Rotten Luck
by Cevaztyen
Summary: Jonathan is a sixteen year old boy who doesn't have the best of luck. One day, he obtains a relic and after an unfortunate accident, he finds himself reborn as a Ralts.
1. Chapter 1: My Luck Stinks

I do not own pokemon in this chapter or the following ones. Nintendo does.

Chapter 1: My Luck Stinks

My luck had always been bad. Maybe it was that time I broke a mirror, or that time I got mauled by a group of black Meowths. I think one night I sleepwalked under 13 stepladders.

My name's Jonathan, by the way, 16 years of age.

Either way, bad things tend to happen to me. Like that time when I woke up three hours late for school, or that other time when I got hit behind the head with a football.

At a basketball game.

And today is no different, seeing as I am actually late for my first date! With Jenny of all people! Stupid mirror/Meowths/ladders! It had to be my luck's fault. How else would a kid with a BB gun shoot a Spearow killing it in mid-flight resulting with it crashing into the fuse box and turning off all the power to the apartment I live in and thus disabling my alarm clock set to wake me at 7:00 in the morning causing me to oversleep until 9:00 when the date had been scheduled at 10:00? I think I actually forgot to set the alarm anyways.

It is now 10:10 and I am burning more calories than a fat guy at a gym just trying to make it there before she gets bored and leaves, though I know she wouldn't do that. I've known Jenny since first grade, and she is one of the kindest girls you'll ever meet. We used to be best friends, then middle school came and I suddenly felt myself feel different around her. Of course you all know what I mean. It wasn't 'till recently that I found out she felt the same way. At first we were "Let's just stay friends" but eventually we decided to go ahead and give a relationship a shot. We decided to meet up at th-didn't I already pass that stop sign?!

Swell, just swell.


	2. Chapter 2: Missed Date

Chapter 2: Missed Date

Jonathan was currently dashing past a corner store for the third time. He then took four left and passed it a fourth time. Maybe if he took four rights…. Jonathan then spat out the stupid juice the author was feeding him and stopped to try and remember the directions.

The Pineco Café was next to the Pelliper Post Office which sent letters in town via Pelliper. He was near a park, so he decided to climb a tree to get a better view over the buildings. After a bit of searching he found some Pellipers leaving and arriving from one roof._ Woo! I found it_, he thought.

After climbing down, and brushing off the ants he stepped on, he was on his way to meet up with Jenny. As he ran he remembered that he had to get her a gift. He had one earlier but an incident with the blender caused him to not have one. Jonathan noticed that he was standing near an antique store. Whoever it was that let him have this sudden stroke of luck he thanked from the bottom of his heart, to which I say "You're welcome."

Jonathan entered the store and almost had a heart attack when he nearly ran into a stuffed Ursaring. His yelp attracted the old man who owned said shop. "Hello, there, young man. Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked. The fact that he spoke behind Jonathan, combined with the lingering effects of the Ursaring, made him almost jump out of his skin.

"Uh, yeah. I'm looking for something for a certain someone."

"A special someone, I presume?"

"Y-yeah. Do you have anything that would be a good gift for a first date?"

"At an antique shop?" Jonathan then realized when you want something romantic, an antique shop wasn't the best place to go to. "Hmmmm…. You know, I think I may have something." Jonathan then thanked whoever it was that gave him this luck again. I feel so liked. The old man led Jonathan to the counter and pulled out a small relic that looked like it belonged in the antique shop where it was. "Here you go, boy! Normally this would go for about fifty dollars" Jonathan felt sad. "But for you, I'll give it to you for twenty!" Jonathan felt glad.

"Wait a minute, this isn't some scam where the thing actually costs five bucks, is it? Because that's happened to me before. Like that time where I bought a soda at the movies for twenty, or that time I got a pencil for five dollars."

"Trust me boy, this isn't a scam!" Jonathan decided to go ahead and buy the relic. Even if it was five bucks it was better than arriving to the café empty-handed.

As he was leaving he heard the old man mention something about the relic having mystical powers. He didn't hear him well, as he freaked out when he discovered it was now 10:20!

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He sprinted as fast as he could before stopping, turning around, and then sprinting again when he saw the familiar corner store.

Jonathan's sprint had slowed down to a fast walk after he had run five blocks. He was almost there, he could see more Pellipers in the sky.

As he walked he saw a little boy playing with a Zigzagoon. Such a sight brought a smile to his now gasping face. As they were playing, the kid accidentally kicked the ball into the street. Being a kid, he didn't know of the danger known as a driving man with a cell phone. Even though the Zigzagoon tried to stop him, the boy walked into the street for his ball.

Driving towards him was none other than a driving man with a cell phone. Jonathan sure as hell didn't want to see a five-year-old little boy be turned into road kill before his eyes, so he ran after him. Jonathan pushed the boy out of the way of the car and onto the sidewalk. The kid fell and scratched his palms and knees. Nothing that could kill him. The same couldn't be the same for Jonathan….

He always had bad luck.

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Meanwhile, out in the forest not to far from where Jonathan saw a close up view of a driving driver from the wrong side of the windshield, a lone pokemon egg was beginning to hatch.


	3. Chapter 3: My Fingers are Gone!

Chapter 3: My Fingers are Gone!

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the underside of a car (and the oil that just happened to drip right in my eye). It wasn't very long before I got bored and decided to move. I moved around a bit and BONK, I hit my head on… something.

I reached forward and felt what seemed to be a wall. Feeling around I discovered that the wall completely surrounded me from all sides. And it wasn't giving me a lot of space. I pushed the wall and noticed that it moved forward a bit. I added more force and it moved some more. Then I heard a small crack.

By now it had become obvious that if I used all my force then I could get out of here, wherever here was. So I pushed and pushed for I don't know how long (23 seconds) until the crack got louder and louder. Finally, I saw some light. The rest was easy from there on.

Once the top half of the wall was removed I noticed that the wall seemed to be egg-shaped. Who cares, I was out. After a brief look at my surroundings I quickly realized where I was.

A giant green forest. How many of those are there?

Though I could tell the wood on the trees were supposed to be brown, they had a bit of a shade of green. I decided to rub my eyes to remove anything that might have flown in there. That is when I noticed that I was missing something. Many thoughts could have entered my mind at that moment, such as _This is unusual_, or _How did this happen_. The thought that chose to enter my mind was _WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FINGERS!!!_

Though when you have thoughts such as _DON'T AIM THAT THING AT ME_, or _WHAT HAPPENED TO MY PANTS_ you tend to get over things quickly. I didn't feel any pain anyways.

As for the thing that was in my eye, it turned out to be my hair that magically turned green. If you want to know why I didn't freak out then you aren't reading this very well. But it was still a mystery as to why my hair was green. Also, my watch was gone, but I was sure it was sometime around 10:30…. AAAHHHHHHHHH!!! WHERE THE HELL AM I!!!

In a panic, I tripped over something. Looking at my feet, I noticed the relic I bought from the old man. That was quickly ignored by the fact that I was wearing loose fitting white pants. I tried to tighten them, but the pain caused by that made me realize that the pants were my skin. Freak out time!

After I got over it in 0.5 seconds I picked up the relic and decided to find a way out of this forest. It would have been easier if I knew where I was. That was when I noticed a Pelliper fly overhead. _Hmmmmm_, I wondered, _Is it leaving, or headed towards the post office?_

I then picked up some random stick from the ground and flung it into the air. The way that the sharp end points towards shall decide where I go. The stick landed and pointed in the direction the Pelliper was headed. That's when I decided that I was NOT headed that way.

I ran in the direction I had decided on, trying to comprehend how I picked up the stick without fingers, when I realized just how tired I was. Breaking out of an egg then running around the place was not the best way to conserve energy. Sitting down next to a lake I spent my time skipping rocks. I decided to get a look in the lake in case there were anymore surprises.

Along with figuring out I had no fingers, I also discovered I lacked a nose. I also had two pinkish, flat horns, one in front, and another behind my head. How did those get there? Moving my hair out of the way, I saw that my eyes had changed to red in color. I sighed, then returned to skipping rocks.

As I was getting ready to throw one, it accidentally flew out of my hands and into the bushes behind me. I heard a BONK, an "ow", then a very threatening growl.

Why me?


	4. Chapter 4: A Fang and a Ralts

I did not come up with the character Fang. The Amazing Chez did.

Chapter 4: A Fang and a Ralts

As the growl came closer Jonathan noticed that he felt his horns feel funny. The best way he could describe the feeling was angry. Perhaps it was best he ran away right now. "WHO THE HELL JUST THREW A ROCK AT ME?!" Too late.

From the bush lept out a black and red wolf-like pokemon. It had a spade tipped tail and long horns sticking out of the back of his head. If that weren't enough, it was several times bigger that he was! Of all the pokemon to encounter right now, it had to be one that looked like it had stepped out of the gates of hell! That sucked.

"Oh, joy, it's one of your kind," it sneered, glaring at Jonathan, "Think you're to girly for me to hunt?" It loomed above Jonathan, clearly looking for an apology of sorts.

"Whoa, you talked!"

"ARE YOU CALLING ME AN IDIOT?!"

"N-no! I just never heard a pokemon talk before!" Jonathan replied.

The canine snorted, "You're a pokemon, you're talking. Not awfully bright are you?" Now that he mention it that would explain the sudden amputations of his nose and fingers. But he had never heard of a type of pokemon like him.

"Well if I'm a pokemon then what am I?" Jonathan replied matter-of-factly.

"A Ralts," wow, he wasn't expecting an answer, "Now about that rock…"

"Oops, sorry about that…what's your name?"

"Fang, and in case you were wondering, I'm a Houndoom, brainiac."

"Ok then… I'll be going now." As Jonathan was attempting to walk away, Fang stepped in front of him.

"Now where do you think you're going, Mr. Ballerina. I haven't had my lunch yet," he said, with an is-it-ok-if-you-end-up-in-my-stomach tone of voice.

_Sigh, this just isn't my day._

Fang pounced on Jonathan, which he proceeded to dodge. Fang missed, and as a result, made a _rock smash_ into little pieces. Jonathan then climbed up a tree, hoping this cat-and-dog like tactic would cause him to give up. Maybe it would have worked if Fang was unable to shoot _shadowed balls_ at him.

The branch broke and scratched him a little. While he knew it was supposed to sting a little, the attack hurt like hell! Luckily he fell on a bush to break his fall. "Heh, give up, kid. Dark beats psychic any day!" Meanwhile, all this noise had attracted an old Skuntank. It crept up behind Jonathan just as Fang was about to pounce. "Huh, what's that?"

Jonathan turned around just as the Skuntank released its ammo all over his face (and a bit to Fang who was behind him). Fang, being a canine, began to howl in pain due to his keen sense of smell. _Huh, this is an advantage I didn't expect_, Jonathan thought, suddenly not missing his nose as much. "Err, thanks… you… what's your name?"

"No need to know young man, just get off of my property!"

"Your property?"

"Yes! I marked it just where you're standing!"

………. _Ew_. "Ok bye." As he was beginning to leave, his horns felt as if they were in agony. He didn't understand why, but he saw that Fang wasn't in the best condition. Jonathan wasn't the selfish type. He distinctly remembered a car. He decided to, against his better judgment, approach the Houndoom. "You Ok?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?!?!?!" Jonathan then picked up a leaf and soaked it in the lake (try to imagine a Ralts doing that without thinking '_cute_'), then proceeded to wipe the stench off his muzzle. Fang then slowly got up. "What?! You think I needed your help?!" Jonathan slowly backed away. "Just feel grateful I'm not hungry anymore!" Jonathan let the air out of his lungs.

Jonathan looked around before deciding to ask directions from the guy who just tried to kill him. "Hey, do you know where the city is?"

"No, I can't smell the large group of humans that won't leave my nostrils!"

"So where are they?"

"Not the way you're headed, that's for sure, kid."

Jonathan sweat dropped, "Why do you keep calling me kid? I'm sixteen!"

"Heh, you're out of your flippin' mind. You don't look a day over... hell, you don't look a day at all!" This certainly made Jonathan's day better. "Now, get outta here before I feel hungry again!" He figured it was best to leave now.

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As Jonathan was walking he decided to take a good look at the relic he was carrying. It seemed to be in the shape of some sort of cat. Maybe it was a kind of pokemon? Another thought came to mind. _Why am I a pokemon? Oh, well. Better than road kill._ Come to think about it, why hadn't he taken a good look at the relic before? Oh, right. He was late for his da-_WHAT AM I STILL DOING HERE?!_

Jonathan broke into a sprint.


	5. Chapter 5: Back to the City

Though generally a humor fic, there are moments in the story where the theme gets more serious.

Chapter 5: Back to the City

As I walked through the forest I was relieved to see the edge of the city. Finally I had made it home! I just had to hurry and find Jenny before she got fed up and left. Even she had her limits, after all. Now which way was… is that a corner store? Sigh, back to square one.

Anyways, from there, I knew I had to walk to the Pineco Café. Only problem was I was now 10 times smaller. How was I supposed to explain that to Jenny?! I looked in the store's clock and saw it was now 10:55. So far I've been a pokemon for about thirty minutes. Maybe it'll wear off? With my luck, yeah right. The closer I got to the café the funnier my horns felt.

Why am I feeling like I have just witnessed a horrible accident?

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Oh, that's why.

In front of me there were police cars surrounding what seemed to be the site of an accident. I had a guess of who was the cause of the accident, but to make sure, I decided to ask someone. Police men were out of the question. That's when I noticed a Zigzagoon standing nearby. "Hey, what happened here?" After the encounter with the Houndoom I noticed that I indeed did sound like a kid.

"(Sob sob)," apparently she was a kid too… how did I know she was a she? "We (sob) we were playing and (sniff) t-t-the ball went into the street and…and whaaaaaaaa!!!" I patted her on the back. This was most likely too much for her. And my horns were really bothering me.

"There, there," I'm not good with children, they tend to cause me problems. Like that time when that kid tripped me just as I was about to go down some stairs, or that one time I lost my watch. I just know that little bugger took it. But still, what was I supposed to say to this poor Zigzagoon?

"(Sniff) a-and then my buddy w-went to get it a-and (sniff) this car was c-coming," that feeling in my horns was getting worse. It felt sad. "B-but then (sob) this g-guy came and p-pushed him outta the w-way, but (sob sob) WHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

I got up, "So where's your friend?"

"O-over there (sniff)."

"C'mon, I think its best you two stay together. I don't think little kids should go through this stuff alone."

"B-but you're a kid."

"Err, yeah. That's true, I guess." I led the Zigzagoon, who introduced herself as Ziggy, to her human friend. Upon seeing the boy, I immediately knew that my guess had been correct. It was the same little boy I had pushed out of the way. I left them alone with each other, I wanted to get a closer look at the accident.

As I was walking, I saw the man with the cell phone still on his cell phone. I gave him a kick in the shin and walked off.

Apparently the car was fine. It had stopped just as it had run me over. My… former body was covered in a sheet so no one could see. I was glad about that, seeing as I felt a lot of pain during the accident. Though, I was more worried about the girl standing next to the police. I did have a date with her, after all.

I slowly approached Jenny, mostly because my horns felt worse and worse as I got closer to her. She looked like she was going through a lot. Her brown hair was messy and a little tangled, and her eyes were red and poofy, most likely from crying. Those of you who thought she had blue hair watch too much anime.

I walked up to her and got her attention. "Hello, Jenny."

"Huh?" she looked over in my direction, "H-hello there." This was great! She could understand me!

"Jenny, please stop crying! It's me, Jonathan! I'm not dead!"

"What are you doing here, are you alone?" so much for that. At least I didn't have to explain anything. "You look awfully young. Where is your mommy?" Might as well answer. Since I didn't see any grown up Ralts when I broke out of that egg, I was guessing no. After I shook my head a look of shock entered her face, "Do you know what happened to your mommy?" Shook my head again, "Poor little thing. Do you want to go home with me?"

I took this moment to think about my current situation. Right now, I am very, very tired.I also noticed I have apparently died. I also have no place to sleep in, and knowing my luck, there are worse pokemon than Fang in the forest. Right now, my best friend/girlfriend has offered me a place to stay. Either my luck has gotten worse since I died, or it has gotten better since I have found a place to stay.A little bit of both I guess.

I nodded yes to her offer and suddenly I felt my horns feel a little better. "Don't worry, little guy, I'll take care of you," that line made me feel so small. "You can call me Jennifer."

I love it when my bad luck decides to take a break.


	6. Chapter 6: Something Stinks

Thank you for all these reviews. It make's a guy's ego feel big.

Chapter 6: Something Stinks

Jennifer's home was at an apartment building next to a two story house. She lived upstairs in the room closest to the two story house. It had a kitchen, a bedroom, a living room, and a bathroom with a tub. She lived there alone due to the fact that her dad was away on some sort of business trip. He was worried about leaving Jennifer alone, but she assured him that she would be fine. He still sent mail to pay for rent and food, though.

"Here's my home, try to familiarize yourself with this place." There was no need for that, seeing as Jonathan had visited here sometimes. Though from the open bedroom door he could see a new computer she had been talking about. He was about to see if he could find anything else he hadn't seen before when Jennifer began to sniff the air. "(Sniff sniff) what's that smell?" she picked up Jonathan and gave him a sniff, "Ugh, did you run into a Stunky?" a Skuntank, actually, much worse. "I'm gonna have to give you a bath!"

Jonathan's face turned beet red. He struggled as best as he could, but he couldn't get out of her grip. It's not that he didn't want a bath, its that he didn't want to be given one by the one he had considered his best friend for the past ten year.

Deciding to take a sneaky was out he said, "All right, I give up." Though Jennifer couldn't understand him, she picked up the defeated tone.

"Good to see we're on the same page here." Jonathan felt her grip loosen. As they passed a bookshelf he reached out and escaped her hold. He climbed to the top of the shelf just out of her reach. "Hey, get back here!"

"You'll have to catch me if you wanna give me a bath, Jenny!" Both he and Jennifer enjoyed climbing as kids, and they were very good at it. Jonathan thought that Jennifer would be civil enough to not climb indoors. He also thought a Houndoom couldn't attack him up a tree.

As Jennifer was climbing up the shelf, Jonathan, in an effort to escape, jumped and caught hold of the ceiling fan. Meanwhile, outside on the street, a kid lit up a little firework he got without anyone knowing. It launched straight through Jennifer's open window and it hit the switch that turned on the ceiling fan. It spun faster and faster until Jonathan couldn't hold on any longer and was flung into the bathroom and into the bathtub. Need I remind you that Jennifer hasn't filled it with water yet?

As he was rubbing his throbbing head, his horns were filled with that feeling again. "Oh my god! Are you all right?!" Jennifer entered the bathroom and picked him up like a mother would a baby.

"All except for the headache," he muttered.

"I don't know what I would have done if you had been killed!" _Apparently sob 'till your eyes were puffy and your hair was a mess_, thought Jonathan. "Don't worry, I'll make that boo-boo feel better," _Boo-boo? Oh, right. I'm a baby_.

After Jennifer made sure that Jonathan was all right she turned on the water which Jonathan had hoped she had forgotten. With escape now impossible, Jonathan decided to raise the white flag (metaphorically speaking). As Jennifer was bathing him, she decided to start a conversation. "I see you've gotten over that accident of yours," she pointed out, "You really are nonchalant."

"Yes, considering I'm not freaking out as much as I was a few minutes ago."

"I mean, really, other babies would be bawling their eyes out after that."

"Please don't call me a baby."

"You don't have the best of luck, do you?"

"(Insert comment that points out obvious here)."

"You kinda remind me of Jonny."

Jonathan spat out the rubber ducky (think '_cute_'). Jonathan waved his arms trying to get her attention. When she looked at him he began pointing at himself. "Yes, you do remind me of Jonny." Jonathan sighed. While every one else called them Jonathan and Jennifer they called each other Jonny and Jenny. No one else really called them that. Not even the third person narrator (except for chapter two in case anyone watched too much anime). Oh well, back to bath.

Once the Skuntank smell was gone, Jennifer picked him outta the tub. "C'mon, it's time to sleep now!"

"WHAT?! It's still…!" Jonathan looked at the clock. Apparently some almighty force had changed the time to 10:00 p.m. "…never mind."

Jennifer laid him on the bed a good distance from where she was. "Goodnight, little one," _Meh, maybe being a pokemon isn't going to be so bad_, "A little girl like you should get her sleep." _Scratch that_.

Jonathan jumped up on the bed and ferociously shook his head. "Nonononono! I'm a guy! How can you think I'm a-" he remembered the image in the lake and Fang's comments, "Oh, that's why. But still, I'm a guy!"

Jennifer got the message and Jonathan got a sensation of embarrassment in his horns. "Oh, I'm sorry! I just kinda assumed that you where a…" Jonathan just shrugged and laid back down. He really was nonchalant.

As soon as Jennifer went to sleep, he pulled the relic out of his hair (all pokemon had a place to store hold items). The cat didn't look familiar, and it technically was a gift for Jennifer, so he didn't know what to do with it. He decided to think about that later and go to sleep.

Then an arm hit him on the head. He recalled Jennifer moved a lot when she slept. It was going to be a long night.

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As they were sleeping, a pair of glowing eyes looked upon them from the house next door. From behind the eyes a little fire could be seen swinging back and forth. It then decided that the next day it would introduce itself to the Ralts.

The glowing eyes then closed, but the fire remained.


	7. Chapter 7: Ralts Online

Chapter 7: Ralts Online

It took me a while to recall what happened the day before. Let's see now: I got attacked by a Houndoom, I was late for my date, I moved in with said date, and oh yeah, I'm technically dead. Why did I wake up?

I turned around and tried to think what I was going to Jenny today now that I nightgown into a pokemon who can't chest the doorknob why can't I look away. I managed to break out of her little 'trance' when she started to move. "Good morning little guy!"

"I WAS NOT STARING AT YOUR CHEST!!!"

"Oh, how I would love to understand what you say sometimes!"

Jenny then got up and changed, further reddening my face. If I had a nose it would probably bleed through it.Once she finished changing I noticed the clothes she was wearing were the same uniform as those of the Pineco café. She walked up to me and kneeled down like a mother would to a kid.

"Listen, little guy, I just got a job at the café. Can I trust you to stay here alone?" I nodded, "Good! I left some food for you on the living room's coffee table in case you get hungry." With that, we said our goodbyes (and some instructions on what to do in an emergency) and she left for her new job.

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Once she was out the door I plopped down on the couch and watched TV. I thought I had nothing better to do, but then one word came to mind. _Ralts_.

I was a pokemon that went by the name of Ralts, yet I didn't know what one was. I'm not a pokemon trainer, I only know the local pokemon! My eyes turned towards the computer in the bedroom. I may be a pokemon, but my mind was still human.

I walked up to the computer and pushed the on button, then I jumped onto the chair, and as soon as the screen loaded I moved the mouse, using both hands, and logged into the internet. I didn't have fingers to type with, but I always typed with one finger per hand in the past.

After a bit of searching, I found a website based entirely on pokemon. I typed in Ralts, but it wasn't a big article. "Ok, let's see, Ralts is known as the 'feeling' pokemon, a psychic type which constantly uses its ability known as 'empathy'." I temporarily left to find a dictionary. After spending a long time searching for one, I realized that the entry had a footnote defining the word: it was the ability to sense emotion. Ralts sense them from the horns, it seemed.

Now that one mystery was solved, I continued to read. "Let's see: A Ralts tends to mirror the emotion of its trainer (Jenny isn't my trainer, but its close enough). The happier the trainer, the healthier the Ralts. Likewise, a sad trainer results in an unhealthy and sickly Ralts…." Jenny's best friend (me) just died…. I kept reading with a hope that I would be alive this time next week. "Ralts are normally timid and shy, so they are considered to be rare pokemon. "Hey, I'm rare!"

I then noticed a tag that said 'evolution'. I've heard of pokemon evolutions. When a pokemon evolves it becomes larger and more powerful. If Ralts has an evolution, then there's a chance I can evolve! I quickly clicked on the word and waited eagerly for the page to load. Imagine the anticipation if you were trying to find a more powerful version of yourself. Imagine if it was a Kirlia. I sure didn't have to imagine!

And Gardevoir was even worse!!! Why the hell did I become a pokemon that was associated with girls?! Wait, males could go through a different evolution…. I clicked on the male evolution and saw the picture. "WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Its worth getting past Kirlia to be a Gallade! Blade arms would be great for attacking! Wait a minute, I don't know any attacks.

Reading up, I discovered a lot of attacks a Ralts could use. Some like hypnosis and dream eater sounded cool, but I would need to be a high level to do so. I'm no where near that level. But even if I COULD use those attacks, how would I know how to use them? It would probably be best if I tried them when I got stronger.

So… am I supposed to lift weights or something?


	8. Chapter 8: Friendly Neighbor

Wow, the whole chat room section took up a whole page.

Chapter 8: Friendly Neighbor

PKMNMSTR45: Fire beats ice, so moltres would beat articuno hands down.

Headbutter99: Zapdos is an electric type. The other two are flying types. He'd win.

Ralts32: I honestly don't know what you're talking about.

PKMNMSTR45: Which is the strongest legendary bird.

Headbutter99: Why'd you call yourself Ralts? R U a girl?

Jonathan stopped to think how to respond to that before typing in a large amount of words that would only be allowed on an M rated show.

Headbutter99: Oops, sorry about that.

Ralts32: Just remember that there are MALE Ralts.

PKMNMSTR45: There are male Ralts?!

Ralts32: And you call yourself PKMNMSTR.

Headbutter99: Imaging seeing a Ralts in the wild! What would you do?

PKMNMSTR45: I'd use my poochyena to attack it repeatedly 'till it was weak enough to capture.

Headbutter99: Poochyena, huh? I've got a Mightyena! That would hurt a Ralts a LOT more!

Ralts32: Why not let it go free and uninjured?

PKMNMSTR45: HAHAHAHAHA!!! A pokemon as rare as Ralts?! You've got to be kidding!

Headbutter99: No trainer would let a Ralts escape their sight!

Ralts32: I'm hungry, bye.

(Ralts32 has left the chat room).

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Jonathan didn't want to continue a conversation that had him imaging himself getting hurt. He also was kinda hungry.

Jennifer left behind some fruits for Jonathan to eat. Best to be safe and give him natural foods in case human food was poisonous to some pokemon. _I'm gonna miss pizza_.

As he was failing at peeling a banana, he thought he heard something behind him. He turned around and saw nothing. Figuring it was his imagination, he returned to trying to bite open the banana. It wasn't until he heard someone knock over something that he decided to check.

Being about a foot tall wasn't good for intimidating burglars, but it was good for being stealthy. "If I get attacked, I'm sure I could dodge it," thought Jonathan, "Like that time I dodged a school bully's punches for three minutes straight before he landed one, or that time I accidentally wandered into the archery field."

Everything looked normal in the restroom and living room. When he entered the bedroom he noticed a glow coming from the closet. As he approached, he couldn't quite make out who it was in there. All he could see of the intruder was two glowing eyes and a little fire swinging back and forth behind them. It then pounced onto him.

"Hello!"

"Uh, hey? …Could you get off of me?"

Pinning him to the floor was what seemed to be a large, orange lizard. It was about two feet tall, but what caught his attention was the flame on the tip of his tail. Jonathan knew that this was a starter pokemon known as Charmander. "Where did you come from?"

"The window was open." You'd think Jenny would've closed it after the incident with the firework. "Anyways, I'm Ember! What's yours?"

"Ember? That sounds like a girls name."

"Well, at least I don't look like a girl!"

"Touché, I'm Jonathan, by the way," he extended his hand for a handshake, which Ember took. "Now, what are you doing in here?!"

"I wanted to meet the new pokemon Jennifer got! So were you caught in the wild, or are you a starter pokemon!"

"I'm not caught technically."

"You don't have a poke ball? That means you're wild!"

"Wild?"

"It means that any trainer with an empty poke ball can catch you!" that thought had not crossed Jonathan's mind. If he were to run into a trainer, he would most likely be caught (he was sure, seeing how people reacted online about Ralts).

"Wait, does that mean you're wild?"

"No, I've got a trainer! He's the kid that lives next door in the two story house!"

Jonathan remembered that kid. A ten year old named boy Mark who wanted to go on a journey with his pokemon. Jonathan had heard that he had gotten his first pokemon, but he broke his leg before he left. Now he has to stay home for a few months to let the leg heal. Jonathan was planning on visiting, but you know what happened. "So, wanna be friends?"

"Sure, I guess," might be useful to have someone he could talk to. They then heard knocking at the door.

"Who's that?"

"Must be Jenny."

"Who's Jenny?"

"It's what I call Jennifer." Jonathan's horns felt eagerness, like when your gonna give someone a gift. "She got me a surprise present," he said as she entered.

"Hello, little guy! Oh hello, I see you've made friends with Ember" Ember said hello in Charmanderese. She turned back to Jonathan, "I got you a present!"

"Wow, how'd you know that?!"

"I'm psychic." Jennifer then reached into her pocket and pulled out a box with a ribbon glued on top. She handed it to him and he opened it taking out a little blue bowtie. "Wasn't expecting this."

"I kinda felt bad that I thought you were a girl at first (Ember fell to the floor laughing and only stopped when Jonathan kicked him) so I got you a bowtie so people wouldn't confuse you for a girl," Jonathan quickly put it on after that statement. "Oh, I see you like it! You don't look all that much like a girl anymore!" _That much?_

Jennifer went to her room, coming back with a mirror. "What do you think?" Jonathan looked at himself. He looked almost the same, but with the blue bowtie it wasn't easy to confuse him for a girl. This made Jonathan's mood better.

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Jonathan was standing next to the window saying goodbye to his new friend. Ember entered his house by getting on the apartment's fire escape then jumping onto the one attatched to his home. His natural pokemon reflexes kept him from falling. After that he climbed into the window. "See you tomorrow Jonathan!"

"Yeah, see ya. Hey, Ember, I heard something fall earlier. Do you know what it was?"

"How did this vase break?!" Jennifer yelled from inside.


	9. Chapter 9: Day at the Park

I plan on making this story episodic, so if you have any ideas for a story, I might take them. I still plan on making my own plots, however.

Chapter 9: Day at the Park

The Pineco Café was closed on the weekends, so Jenny spent the day on the computer finding as much about Ralts as she could. I figured out she kept the window open so Ember could come and go as he pleased.

We were spending the time watching TV when Jenny came in. "Hello Ember, hello Ralts!" she never was creative with names, "It's a sunny day outside, so I thought I'd take you two to the park today! I already called Mark, he'll meet us outside."

Meh, nothing but reruns anyways.

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Mark had the stereotypical trainer look. He wore jeans, some form of a jacket, had black hair, and a hat. You can't forget the hat. His leg was in a cast so he used crutches to get around. "Hello, Mark."

"Hey, Jennifer. My mom wants me home by 5:00. Don't see why, since I plan on traveling miles in the wild," He pulled out a poke ball and aimed it at Ember, "Ember, get into you're poke ball. I'll let you out when we get to the park." A red beam shot out of the poke ball, hitting Ember and turning him into some sort of light and pulling him into the ball. Seeing that kinda made me wonder what the process felt like.

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When we got there, Mark let Ember out of his poke ball fully rested. I was rested enough too, seeing as I was carried the whole way by Jenny. "Hey, Ember, how's it like inside the poke ball?" I asked.

"It's a bit like you're inside a big domed building that was made just for you! If you like some sort of food, it will be there! You like climbing, you get a mountain! I prefer staying outside though. The poke ball isn't perfect."

We decided to go to a jungle gym of sorts designed for pokemon. I had the mind of a sixteen year old, but I decided to go ahead and act my body's age. It was fun once I kept telling myself I was a little kid, and I only fell off four times!

On my fifth time on the floor, I noticed that someone nearby was feeling aggressive. I turned in the direction the feeling was coming from and saw a Poochyena, an Oddish, and a Shroomish. They didn't look to happy. "Can I help you?"

The Poochyena, who apparently was the leader of the group, spoke up, "Yeah, we want to play, so we want you to get off!"

Ember came down to see what was going on. "Who are these guys?" he asked.

"My name's Howler, the Oddish is Leaf, and the Shroomish is Powder. We want you off the jungle gym!" _Sigh, the stereotypical playground bullies._

"There's enough room on the jungle gym for all of us to play on," I hadn't said that sentence in, like, ten years.

"Who cares?! It's still our jungle gym!" said Powder. I figured they would say that.

"Listen, kids, it is best that you don't bicker about problems as insignificant as who plays on the jungle gym when there is more than enough space for us all."

"…What do some of those words mean?" asked a confused Leaf.

"And what do you mean kid?! I'm older than you!" yelled Howler.

"Physically. Mentally, on the other hand…"

"Grrrrrrrr!" Howler had a short temper, it seemed, as he immediately _tackled_ me off the jungle gym. My horns felt he was mad and that he felt I had called him dumb. He had assumed wrong, seeing as he knew what my words meant despite probably being only a year old. He was still going to attack, though.

I got up, shaken from the attack, "Ow, that hurt."

"Ha! Regret your words, kid?! I'm not sure if you know this, but I am a dark type! Your fancy psychic attacks won't hurt me in the least!" He then charged at me at full speed, opening his mouth in an attempt to _bite_ me. As a Ralts, the attack would really hurt me, and none of my natural attacks would hurt him, and he knew it!

Which is why he was so surprised when he got hit in the head with a stick.

"Argh! Did you just hit me with a stick?!"

"Yeah."

"But you're a Ralts! Your kind panics when you're attacked like that! You were supposed to use confusion!!"

"I tend to not panic in situations. As for my attacks, I don't know any, so I improvised.

Howler's friends, seeing him in trouble, decided to step in. Ember, however, wouldn't allow it. "Move it, lizard!" yelled the Shroomish.

"Think about this. I'm a fire type, you're both grass. I'm a trainer's pokemon, so I can fight. Can you?"

Meanwhile, back to my fight, I was holding my own pretty well. Howler didn't seem to think before he attacked, making his attack easily dodgable. As for me, I was just randomly swinging a stick back and forth. The fight could go either way.

The fight tipped in his favor when he used _sand to attack_ my eyes. Temporarily blinded, he _howled_ before _biting_ my arm that held the stick. It hurt like hell! But I handled it well. "AAAARGH!!! YOU BIT MY FREAKING ARM!!!" Ok, maybe not so well. Hey, it was my first time being attacked directly!

I could sense Howler's smugness. He knew how much it hurt. To get him back, I punched him with my free arm. I sensed his surprise. My guess is that most psychic types were so caught up with their powers that they never thought to just use their fist, so Howler didn't think they could.

That seemed to have hurt Howler more than I thought, because he staggered back in a bit of a daze. "Grrrrrrrrr, don't think I'm going to leave you alone! We will meet again!" he said as he turned around and _ran away_.

"What movie did you take that line out of, Howler?!" I called as he left.

Once the other two bullies left, I regrouped with Ember. "The guys chickened out from fighting me. They didn't know that I haven't fought yet, and I don't have fire attacks yet," he said, "I saw your fight, you did great! What was that attack called?"

"I dunno. I just picked up some stick and swung it around. It technically wasn't an attack in the traditional sense, just something that hurt."

"But you still beat him good!"

"Heh, I know," I said. Letting my ego get to me, I did a little victory pose. Nothing could've broken my good mood!

At least until the Pidgey dropping fell on my head. "Oh, for the love of… oh, well. At least the day is still ni-" a drop fell on my horn, shortly followed by a downpour.

Jenny and Mark arrived shortly. "Ember, back into your poke ball," the same red light surrounded him and he was out of the rain. _Ember you lucky little…_

Jenny removed the jacket she was wearing and wrapped me in it before carrying me. "Uh, thank you." My face was a little red, considering the way she was carrying me.

After a while, Jenny noticed the bite mark on my arm. "(Gasp) What happened to your arm!" I really wished I could say an excuse.


	10. Chapter 10: Relic Thief

Chapter 10: Relic thief

Jonathan's arm healed well. Mark had a potion with him in case Ember got hurt, but Jonathan ended up using it. Just one spray and the healing began, but it stung like hell.

Jonathan had just gotten off the computer to see if Ember had come for a visit. Apparently he had, for the moment he stepped out of the bedroom he was pounced upon by an orange blur, "Hello, Jonathan!"

"Hello, Ember. Get off," Jonathan commanded. Ember did so.

"How's your arm?"

"The potion may have stung like a swarm of Beedrill but it did its job awfully well. It's as if the attack never happened!" They jumped out the window and onto the fire escape for fresh air. Jonathan pulled the relic out of his hair deciding to show it to Ember, "Hey, Ember, do you know what this is?"

"Not a clue."

"Well, do you know what the cat this looks like?"

Ember examined it closely, "I can tell it's not a Skitty, Glameow, or a Meowth. I can't think of anything right now, sorry."

"It's ok, I can't tell either," Jonathan was about to put it back in his hair when a Murkrow flew out of nowhere and snatched it right out of his hands. "Hey, you feathered rodent, give that back!"

The Murkrow ignored the complaining Ralts and flew off with its new treasure in its beak. Jonathan climbed down the fire escape and ran in the direction the thief ran off to. Ember was not far behind. "Jonathan, I doubt we'll be able to find the Murkrow that stole your relic, there's a whole bunch of them in there!"

"I don't care, I need that!"

"What's so important about that relic?" Jonathan stopped to think just why he kept that object. Part of the reason might have been that he hoped to use that thing to change back to normal, but he doubted Ember would believe that.

"It's, uh, a present for Jenny!" that was true, actually.

"Why not get another one?"

"It's one of a kind. I won't be able to find another one." Ember got the message that Jonathan really wanted the relic back and decided to help. He still had to ask something, though.

"Won't Jennifer notice we're gone?"

"Let's hope we'll get back in time!" As he said that, they entered the forest the Murkrow had gone into. It was a huge forest with branches that blocked out the sun, giving it a haunted look. Jonathan gulped at the sight of it, but bravely marched on. Really, really slowly.

"Hurry up or we won't make it back before she notices." Ember said. The reason Jonathan was afraid of the dark at the moment was because he remembered that psychic types, such as him, had a weakness to dark types, which he hadn't experienced before he was bitten by Howler. He had to get that relic back, so he sped up the pace.

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They were hoping to make it back fast, but now they were hopelessly lost. They had no idea where the way out was, and it was getting darker! Jonathan figured this was because they were heading deeper into the forest, for it was still close to noon.

A while later, they heard rustling coming from the bushes nearby. No doubt it was some sort of ferocious pokemon who would kill them both in an instant. Jonathan got the biggest relief of his life when it turned out to be a little Zigzagoon. "Phew! Hey, you, do you know the way out?"

The Zigzagoon turned and faced Jonathan with a look of curiosity on its face. It went up to him and started sniffing him with its nose. "Hey, it's you!" she said.

"Have you two met before?" Ember asked. Jonathan then recall this Zigzagoon as being the same one he had met at the site of his accident. She seemed to have gotten over it ok.

"Yeah, she's the first one I ran into when I came to this town. Your name was Ziggy, right?"

"Yay, you remembered me! Thank you for your advice that day, it really helped!"

"You're welcome. Do you know the way outta here?"

"Sorry," Ziggy said, "I came here to find something a Murkrow stole from my buddy."

"What a coincidence! Were looking for something Murkrow stole from Jonathan!" said Ember.

"They were really rude!" Ziggy pouted, "Sam had just gotten a watch for his birthday when it just swooped down and stole it from his wrist! I went to get it, but by the time I was in the forest, I realized the watch was too new for me to track by sent! N-now I'm lost in th-this creepy forest a-and I can't find my (whimper) way back and I'll p-p-probably n-never… WHAAAAAAAAA!!!"_ Oh boy._

Jonathan started patting Ziggy on the back to calm her down, "There, there, don't worry, we'll get out of here. I got an idea to find your watch!"

"(Sniff) R-really?"

"Yeah! The Murkrow that took your watch was probably the same one that took my relic. If you track my scent, you'll be sure to find it!" This caused Ziggy's face to light up.

"You're right!" Jonathan held out his hand so she could catch a whiff of his smell. After sniffing the air for a while she motioned for them to follow her. She turned and walked off in the direction Jonathan and Ember had come from. A sweat drop later, they followed after her.

Thank goodness they had run into Ziggy.


	11. Chapter 11: Murkrow Kingdom

This is my longest chapter yet! I might make some longer, though, so the record shall most likely be broken!

Chapter 11: Murkrow Kingdom

Ziggy and Ember ran slow enough for me to follow, as it was apparent that Ralts weren't made for running. I read up on some moves Ralts could use and found teleport among them. Imagine if I could do that, this would be over in a snap!

"Hey, you two," Ziggy called, "The smell is getting stronger!" We hid behind a bush and looked to see what was on the other side. I saw nothing, but when I turned to Ziggy she was looking straight up with a scared look on her face. Once I looked up I saw why.

At the top of the trees was a whole society of Murkrow in nests. I was hoping that there would have only been one. _That's_ probably why there were so many. We huddled together to try and think of something.

"How are we supposed to get the stuff from them now?!" Ember whispered.

"I don't know, I was hoping there would be only one," I whispered, quoting my previous thoughts.

"I just hope we don't get caught," whispered Ziggy. Just then, five Murkrow poked their heads into the bush.

"You three know that you were trying to hide behind a bush from pokemon with a birds eye view, right?"

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The Murkrow had us put in a cage they had probably stolen from a place that sold birds as pets. Oh, the irony.

"How are we gonna get outta here?" asked Ember.

"The lock seems simple. If I had thumbs I could just turn it and push it open!" I said. A thought came to me, "Hey, Ziggy, you have opposable thumbs, correct?"

"Yes, I do. Why?" said the raccoon-like pokemon.

"You can open this cage easily with those thumbs!" Ember realized, looking at the lock.

Before, Ziggy had a chance to begin their escape plan, a group of Murkrows came and lifted the cage into the air. After their ride ended they were put in front of their leader, a Honchkrow. "What possessed you urchins to wander within our territory without our permission?!" he barked, "We are having enough problems as it is! We do not need you to cause us more problems, you little pests! I rule this kingdom, so I shall solve its problems! Now quit giving me more to fret about!"

Apparently this bird was considered royalty within this avian society. It was best not to get him mad. "Your majesty, pardon us for trespassing. We only came because a few of your fellow Murkrow have taken objects from us that we consider very dear to us," I said, as formally as I could.

The other two looked at me funny, but got the picture when they saw the Honchkrow's face. "I see you are not just pests, but smart pests. Due to you not being idiots I shall allow you to live!" Whoa, I didn't know our lives were at stake, "However, any object our kingdom's soldiers retrieve is property of the Murkrow Kingdom. So says I, King Krow!" said he, King Krow.

"B-but I really need that watch!" whined Ziggy.

"And the relic stolen from me is very important to me!" I exclaimed.

This did not improve King Krow's mood the slightest, "Perhaps I had thought too much of you. You seem to be too selfish for my mercy."

"Us?! Selfish?! You're the ones who keep all this stuff because they're shiny! We actually need that stuff!" Ember protested.

"Hrmph! I did indeed think too much of you! I now have no choice but to sentence you three to death!" Ember had a shocked look in his face at that remark. Ziggy began to cry at these words. As for me, I cursed my luck. Not only was I in a deep mess, but so were Ember and Ziggy. Perhaps there was a way out of this. I, unfortunately, couldn't think of one.

Suddenly, all the Murkrow began to fly in random directions in a panic. Most of them yelling that 'he' was back. During the confusion, King Krow left in an attempt to bring order back to his kingdom. I had just thought of a way out.

When he left, I signaled Ziggy to hurry up. At first confused, she eventually got the message and opened the lock.

We were high up in a tree, but we weren't all that scared. Ziggy was a Zigzagoon, who were natural climbers. Ember jumped between his home and mine on a daily basis. As for me, I liked to climb trees in general. As soon as we reached the bottom, we saw who 'he' was.

A Tyrogue was rampaging throughout the land, beating up as many Murkrow as possible. King Krow was up on a branch relaying orders, and sometimes attacking as well. "Why are they all losing to him?" I asked.

"That Tyrogue must be really strong! It probably can't decide whether to evolve into a Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop." Ember told me, "It'll probably stay that way untill it decides."

We were about to sneak away from the fray when we suddenly heard the Tyrogue yell, "YOU!" His words caused us to stop in our tracks and turn around. The Tyrogue was staring straight at us, or more specifically, me. "You are a psychic type, correct?" I nodded. The grin on his face grew larger, "I have been searching for one of you! I am naturally weak against psychic types, which I am hoping to correct. I have already defeated forty-two other psychic types. I feel I am close to my goal. I shall not let you leave without a fight!" he said, all the while pointing at me like some action star.

I looked around at my surroundings and saw all the Murkrow and the Honchkrow injured around the Tyrogue. My chivalrous side was feeling pity for them, so I said, "How about a deal? If I win, then you shall leave these Murkrow alone. They don't seem to stand a chance against you."

"And if I win?"

I thought about that for a while, "Then I shall give you this bowtie!" Not the best of terms, I know, but I had nothing.

"Meh, sure. As long as I get a fight!" the Tyrogue then looked at me menacingly, "But let me warn you, I have been hit by more psychic blasts than you could imagine! I am almost immune! HAHAHA!"

And so our fight began. Tyrogue closed his eyes and focused, clearly waiting for me to make the first move. He was planning to shrug off whatever psychic attack I threw at him and attack me back!

WHAP!!! "Hey, Look! I found another stick!"

A dumbfounded Tyrogue stood up from that attack, "W-what are you doing?! Aren't you a psychic type?!"

"That doesn't mean I can't pick up a stick and fight you with it. Besides, I don't know how to use my psychic attacks," my horns suddenly began to sense fear, "Now I'm guessing that you spent so much time becoming resistant to special attacks that you forgot to build up your resistance to physical ones, didn't you?"

He nodded. A fighting type resistant to psychic attacks but weak against everything else. Go figure.

"But I can still fight you!" he yelled and charged at me. He almost _head butted_ me but I was barely able to dodge it. He then turned to me and threw what seemed to be _swift_ shuriken at me. Since when was he a ninja?

The stars hit me and launched me back a bit. I tried to hit him with my stick, but he somehow _protected_ himself. His following _head but_ made me fly back farther. "HAHAHA! You cannot defeat me! I shall be the only Tyrogue to brag that he has beaten a hundred psychics someda-" the rock I threw at him shut him up.

Before he had a chance to react, I pounced on him and pinned him to the floor, giving Ember a look. Ember immediately knew what I was up to and ran next to us. Slamming his palm on the ground, he counted to three. "What is going on?" asked Tyrogue, confused by our actions.

"It's called wrestling!" I said.

"Very strong humans play it all the time!" Ember explained, "First one to pin the other for three counts wins!"

Tyrogue seemed to understand what this meant, "I have been defeated by a psychic! At a physical sport, no less!" he turned to me, "Ralts! What is your name?"

"Jonathan."

"Very well, Jonathan. My name is Brick! Remember, for I shall challenge you one day! Pride yourself in being the only psychic to defeat me!" he then turned to the Murkrow, "As for you, pigeons, I shall keep my promise and spare you! Farewell!" he said and left in a flashy way.

"Weirdo," muttered Ziggy.

My horns suddenly picked up someone nearby feeling worry. I also barely heard someone yell my name. I realized it was Jenny. "Guys, Jenny came out to look for us! C'mon, lets get outta here!" The three of us ran in the direction I felt the emotion from before the Murkrow could catch up. We eventually ran into Jenny, who looked so worried. Once she saw us, she almost cried with happiness.

She picked us up, and took us all home.

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It was now nighttime. Mark and Sam (Ziggy's buddy in case you forgot) were practically pulling their hairs out before Jenny reunited them with their pokemon. It was good to be home, but I had, unfortunately, lost my relic. Just then, I heard tapping on the window. It had better not be Ember, ready to pounce.

I opened the window and almost had a heart attack. There on the fire escape was none other than King Krow and like a hundred Murkrow. "Greetings, young Jonathan."

"W-what do you want?!" I was about to panic, but slowly began to calm down when my horns felt apologetic from the direction of King Krow.

"I have come to give you a royal apology. We hope you shall pardon our mistreatment of you while you were in our kingdom. You saved our land from possible destruction, even though we gave you the death sentence. On behalf of the Murkrow Kingdom, I present you with your lost relic." A Murkrow flew down and gave me back my relic, which I swiftly hid in my hair. "The lost watch shall be returned to your friend, but we still feel indebted to you. Should you ever need our assistance in the future, we shall be willing to lend a feather, as long as our power is not abused."

"Thank you, your majesty," I felt it was appropriate to call him that, lest he change his mind again.

Once that was over, they all flew in unison away into the night sky. I looked down onto the fire escape and groaned. Jenny had punished me for leaving without her knowing by having me clean up.

Now I had to clean the feathers and Murkrow droppings off the fire escape.


	12. Chapter 12: Taffy Power

Chapter 12: Taffy Power

Ziggy didn't live far from where Jonathan was, and was able to climb the tree next to the fire escape very easily. "So it's ok to hit them with chairs?" she asked.

"Yeah and sometimes tables too!"

"Ziggy, can you peel this banana?"

Jonathan and Ember were showing Ziggy the wonders of television. Just as that one tough guy was about to hit that other tough guy there was a sudden interruption courtesy of the news. "This just in. Team Orion, who had gone into hiding five years ago, seems to have resurfaced and have been seen performing nefarious deeds within the vicinity! If spotted, citizens are advised to flee and contact the local police immediately! More news at ten."

_Team Orion, huh?_ It had been years since Jonathan had last heard of the team. They were well known for their illegal activities, such as kidnapping important political figures, and selling weapons to far off countries. He was eleven when they had last appeared on the news.

Officers had, after much searching, finally discovered Team Rocket's hidden lab which was used for genetic engineering. Just as they were about to retrieve important information from the computers Team Orion Grunts had broken in and knocked them all out. When the police woke up, all the info and tools were gone without a trace.

"Team Orion? Wonder when they'll be caught," Ember said.

"I don't think it'll be that easy. I remember hearing about them a long time ago. They always managed to escape somehow," Jonathan remarked.

"Aren't I older than you? What do you mean by 'you remember'?"

"Can we change the channel?" Ziggy asked, "This is starting to bore me."

"What?! No! That one tough guy is about to win!" Ember exclaimed.

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Jonathan, Ember and Ziggy got permission from Jennifer to go ahead and explore outside on their own. Using the tree next to the fire escape, they climbed down.

They were heading towards the park, when a car ran over a puddle which splashed all over Jonathan. That's not important, it's just something that happened.

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Howler wasn't at the park that day, so they were able to enjoy the day in peace. They all agreed to play a game of hide-and-seek to pass the time.

Due to the difficulty of hiding a burning tail, Ember was chosen to count first. Ziggy ran into the tall grass to hide while Jonathan jumped behind a rock.

After a while, Ember jumped onto the rock, "Found you!" he yelled.

Jonathan would've replied to that, had his horns not started acting up again. This time, it felt like someone had been interrupted from a relaxing state. And it was coming from the rock Ember was on. "Ember, I think you should get off that rock."

He didn't have time to, for suddenly, the rock flung him into the air. "Yawn! Who woke me?" it stared to say.

Jonathan, dumbfounded, gawked at the rock. Did it just talk? He was sure that it didn't have a face or arms, so how did it speak? His question was answered when the rock suddenly turned pink. "Who are you?" Jonathan asked, having nothing else to say.

Two dotted eyes and a big smile stretched on its face as its hard mass turned flabby. "My name's Taffy! How do you do?"

"Fine… were you a rock just now?"

"No, silly, I was a stone!"

"Ok, how did you do that?"

"Like this!" a glow surrounded the blob and before Jonathan's eyes Taffy's shape changed and _transformed_ into one mirroring his. Before him was an identical double, like Jonathan in almost every was. "It's the power of Ditto! Nice bowtie, by the way."

Ember, who had been pulling his head out of the ground, had just returned and saw two Jonathans. "Whoa, there are two of you!" One of the Jonathans suddenly ran up to Ember and pushed him to the floor. Holding back a laugh, he ran off in some random direction. "What did you do that for?!" he yelled towards the fleeing Ralts.

The real Jonathan then came and helped him up. "Remember the rock that threw you off itself? That Ralts was that rock. He's a pokemon known as a Ditto."

"Ditto, eh? I've heard a bit about them. They are capable of transforming into anything they see. They also are capable of copying their opponent's powers!"

"Well, let's go find Ziggy before he does. He'll probably make me look like a fool," bird dropping fell on his head causing Ember to crack up.

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Ziggy was hiding in the tall grass, wondering if it was safe to make a run for the tree they had labeled as home base. Suddenly, she felt someone painfully tug her tail. When she was dragged out, she was shocked to find it was none other than Jonathan. "Hiya, Zigzagoon! How do you do?"

"J-Jonathan?"

"Yay!!! Disguise works! My name's Taffy, who are you?"

By now, Ziggy knew this was not Jonathan. This thought was further confirmed when a second Jonathan, accompanied by Ember, arrived. "Ziggy, that's not me!" Jonathan yelled.

"I know, he said his name was Taffy."

"Oh. I thought he was going to try and take over my identity like in the movies."

"What a great idea!!!" Taffy exclaimed. Suddenly, he disappeared from view and appeared next to Jonathan.

"Wait, how did you do that?!" then Taffy made both of them _teleport_ onto two different spots.

One of the Jonathans yelled, "Don't believe what he says! I'm the real Jonathan!"

The other Jonathan yelled, "YOU TELEPORTED ME ONTO AN ANTHILL FULL OF FIRE ANTS!!!" Due to the fact that they found out who was the real Jonathan very fast, Taffy decided to give it another go.

For round two, Taffy thought it best to make up some rules for his little quiz. "Both of us'll keep quiet until you ask a question. Then you pick who answers! It can be me, him, or both of us!" he turned to Jonathan, "Talk before a question and you get the anthill!"

Once they were teleported in front of Ember and Ziggy the game began. Ziggy asked the first question, "What was the name of the Tyrogue who attacked the Murkrow. Left Jonathan, you answer."

"His name was Brick!" he answered.

"Correct! Now it's my turn," Ember said, "Right Jonathan, where did you first meet me?"

"My home."

"Right," Ziggy said, "Right Jonathan, what's your favorite attack?"

"What attacks? I just hit people with whatever I find laying around."

"Correct… this'll take too long," Ember then thought of a great idea to figure out the real Jonathan, "This question is for both of you. Jonathan, what is your eye color?" This statement made the left Jonathan cringe.

"Drat! I have no idea what a Ralts's eye color is! You win, congrats!" Taffy then transformed into a paper airplane and flew away, "See ye later! How long is later?" he hollered as he flew away.

"That guy was weirder than the Tyrogue," Ziggy said.

"They probably know each other," Jonathan responded.

"It would explain how he knew who the Tyrogue attacking the Murkrow was," Ember concluder.

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They had decided to go home after the hyper Ditto's quiz. They had their fill of the park for the day. "Hey, Jonathan," Ember began, "What color are your eyes, anyways?"

"Huh? I thought you already knew, with you asking the question and all."

"Actually, I had no idea. Since Taffy had never seen your eyes, he couldn't have copied them."

"Smart. My eyes are red, by the way."

"Really?" Ziggy asked, "Can we see?"

Jonathan moved his hair out of the way to show them his eyes. "Cool," Ember said.

"Wow, you do have eyes!" Ziggy said. She then noticed the relic hidden within Jonathan's hair, "Hey, what's that?"

Jonathan pulled the relic out, "This? It's the relic we went to find that the Murkrow stole. Do you know what pokemon this is?"

Ziggy stared at the relic for a while before answering, "I can't remember. I remember seeing it somewhere, but I can't remember it's name or where I saw it."

"That's ok Ziggy, you'll remember eventually," a car then splashed Jonathan as it sped by.


	13. Chapter 13: Famous Son

Chapter 13: Famous Son

Rather than have Ember come over to my house today, I decided to pay him a visit. I couldn't jump anywhere near as well as Ember, so we placed a board on both fire escapes which I walked over. It was very easy, as I weighed about 15 pounds.

Mark didn't live in an apartment like I did, so his family had more than enough room to show off their valuables. The room I came into was full of trophies from pokemon tournaments, and pokemon contests. The pictures on the walls had this image of a full grown man standing next to a Charizard. Any human who knew Mark would say that the man in the picture looked a lot like him, but only pokemon could see that there was a resemblance between the Charizard in the picture and the Charmander in the room.

"Hey, Ember, is the Charizard in the picture related to you?" I asked.

"Yep! He's my father!" Ember said proudly, "His trainer was none other than Zack, former champion of the elite four! He was also Mark's father!" Back when I was human, Mark hardly ever mentioned his father. My guess is that he wanted to make his own reputation as a trainer, which happens with almost every trainer with a famous parent.

Of course, it had been a long time since Zack was the champion. The current leader was Lucas, who had defeated Cynthia, who defeated had Brendan, who had defeated Wallace, who stepped in when Steven resigned, who had defeated Gold, who had defeated Red, who had defeated Blue, who had defeated Lance, who had defeated Zack. Made me wonder how long the list went. "So where is he now?"

"He and Zack went traveling to far off places. We get letters every now and then,"

Ember then stopped to think, "Say, where are your parents?"

"I don't have any," I said absentmindedly. This news seemed to shock Ember.

"You don't?! Don't you feel sad?"

"At first yes, but after a few years I got over it." Now Ember looked confused.

"Years?"

"Oh, I mean… When I hatched no one was around. I wandered into the city where Jenny found me." Ember decided not to push the subject any further.

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I quickly forgot the fact that Mark was the son of a former pokemon champion mostly because I had no interest in it. What really caught my interest was the objects Mark kept in his bedroom next to his TV.

Video games.

Jenny and I always used to play them back when I was human. I haven't had a chance to play them ever since I began living at Jenny's due to the fact that I was the one that owned the games. I convinced him to play a few games with me. We were evenly matched due to the fact that I had skill, which he didn't have, and he had fingers, which I didn't have. It felt good to do human things again.

"Ember, have you ever been to an arcade?" I asked.

"That's a place full of video games, right?"

"Right! You wanna go?"

"Don't you need money to play them?"

"Yes, but we can still go to see other people play."

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Don't ask how we managed to get permission from Mark to go to an arcade unsupervised when we can't speak English. I'm not sure how we did myself.

We left by the usual means, fire escape, where an anthill seemed to have migrated beneath my feat just as I landed. Anthills hate me.

Walking towards our destination, I wondered if anyone would be playing my favorite game. It was one of those shooter games with a plastic cord attached to the arcade box. I was usually unable to play it due to my luck, like that time when the game was out of service, or that time there were ten people in line for it. Who waits in line at an arcade?! … Ok, I waited too, but that's not the point!

I realized then how hard it would be to play a shooter without fingers. As I was trying to solve this problem, my horns acted up again. They felt very excited, with the feelings coming from behind me. Before I could react, I was suddenly shot forward by _water _so fast that it seemed to come out of a _gun_. The landing was rough, but I was ok.

Ember then came to help me up, and then my horns felt more excitement. We turned around and saw a blue frog-fish-like pokemon. I figured it was a Mudkip belonging to the trainer behind it.

The trainer pulled out a poke ball. I was expecting him to let out another pokemon, but he surprised me when he threw it at me instead.

Ember pushed me out of the way, which made the poke ball hit him instead. The poke ball opened up and Ember was surrounded by a red light. The light returned to the poke ball, but nothing happened to Ember. "Uh, Ember, was there any reason that you pushed me?"

"Be careful Jonathan!" he said, "If a poke ball hits a wild pokemon they may get caught!" While I hardly thought of myself as 'wild', I remembered a conversation I had with Ember in which I learned that being wild meant that you didn't have a trainer.

And I'm sure Jenny wasn't a trainer.


	14. Chapter 14: Running from Jim

School plus sheer laziness equals lack of updates. I'll _try_ to make more.

Chapter 14: Running from Jim

"Aw man, the Charmander already has a trainer," the trainer said glumly, "But the Ralts is probably fair game! Finn, use _mud-slap_!" the next moment Jonathan found himself blinded by mud that the Mudkip known as Finn spat out.

"AAAAGH!!! That came out of your mouth!"

"Now use _tackle_!" Finn charged at Jonathan at max speed, but stopped when Ember got in the way.

"What are you doing?! Get out of the way!" yelled Finn.

"No, I'm not letting you capture him!" Ember said, "A lot of people would miss him if you did!"

"Then he should've found himself a trainer!" Finn said as she (yes she) shoved Ember out of the way. Jonathan had finally wiped the mud out of his eyes when he was _tackled_ back to the floor by Finn. "What's the matter can't fight back? I know that all a wild Ralts know is growl! If you let Jim catch you," she said, gesturing at her trainer, "you'll grow stronger!"

"I don't need attacks to fight! I can still hit you with… with…," Jonathan looked around and realized they were still in the city, meaning there wasn't a stick that he could pick up to hit her with, "Well, this sucks."

Just as Finn was about to shoot more _water_ at Jonathan, Ember _scratched _her, "Ow! I told you not to get out of the way!"

"I told you I'm not letting you capture him!" Ember retorted. "Your gonna have to fight me first!Though it's going to be hard to fight without a trainer," he mumbled.

"Why's that?" asked Jonathan.

"With humans, we can focus completely on the battle without the need to think of strategies. That way, we can give it one hundred percent!" Jonathan knew that there were no humans around, but what Ember just said was that humans were the brains in the battle. He hoped he could do this right.

"Ember, what attacks do you know?"

"Just growl and scratch, I'm not strong enough to use other attacks. Why do you ask?"

"I'll play trainer, hopefully it'll help you battle!" Ember agreed to that and they got into position, Ember battle ready and Jonathan ready to command.

"Ember, use _scratch_!"

"_Sir yes sir_!" Ember yelled, proceeding to try and scratch Finn. Finn's trainer, Jim, couldn't speak Ralts, so the attack caught him by surprise.

"Finn, attack back with _water gun_!"

"Gotcha!" Finn shot water which directly hit Ember, and with him being a fire type, it caused extra damage.

"Now proceed with a _tackle_!" Finn charged.

"Ember, _growl_!" Jonathan yelled before the attack hit.

"Affirmative, _sir_!" Ember let out a ferocious growl, causing the slightly intimidated Finn to slow down. The tackle landed, but it didn't make Ember fall. Ember grabbed the fin above her head before she could escape.

"Use _scratch_ now!" with his free hand, Ember continued his attack.

"Man, this battle's tough…" Jim muttered. Then realization hit him, "Wait, wasn't I trying to capture the Ralts?" Jim slapped his forehead then threw a poke ball. Jonathan saw it coming and dodged out of the way.

"Ember, let's get outta here!" Jonathan screamed as he ran away.

"Proceeding to retreat, _sir_!" Ember quickly followed, Jim and Finn hot in pursuit.

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Jonathan and Ember have long since escaped into the forest it hopes of losing Jim. Their running attracted the attention of an old Raticate that was nearby, "Now now, young man, why are you in such a rush?"

"(Huff huff) There's a trainer after me, and I don't want to get caught! He's been after me for a while now," Jonathan explained.

"And I'm helping him escape," Ember added.

"Hmmmm. Don't worry, young man, I'll help you get away!"

"Really?! Thanks! What's your name, anyways?" Jonathan asked.

"My name's not important, just run that way, you'll probably run into someone who can help further. I'll distract the trainer!" Jonathan and Ember ran in the direction the old Raticate pointed just as Jim was coming within view.

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With the Raticate distracting Jim and Finn, Jonathan and Ember were able to slow down to a jog. "Back at the battle, what was with the 'sirs' and stuff?" Jonathan asked.

"My dad acts that way when he fights all the time, so he taught me," Ember explained, "It's supposed to help me focus on the battle."

Jonathan then felt something strange with the ground. Looking down, he noticed that it was charred black. "Ember, look at the floor."

"Wow, what did that!" Ember asked. Unknown to them, a figure was lurking behind them. Just as Jonathan was about to reply to Ember on his theory of exploding fruits, he was pounced upon by another creature of similar height.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?!" asked the little yellow mouse pinning Jonathan to the floor.

"Calm down, little guy," _Wow, I hardly call anyone little nowadays_, "We're not here intentionally."

"We're being chased by a trainer!" Ember said.

"A-a TRAINER!!" the little mouse exclaimed.

"A Raticate we saw along the way told us someone here could help," Jonathan continued.

The mouse pokemon mumbled for a bit before replying, "I-I can help."

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Jonathan and Ember were up in a tree hanging from a branch. From there, they were seeing the little mouse as it prepared for an upcoming battle. "Ember, I don't think he'll be able to drive off the trainer on his own."

"Why not? He seemed pretty confident."

"Yeah, but he doesn't feel the same way. That little… what pokemon is he?"

"A Pichu."

"That little Pichu is actually scared out of his wits. I don't know why he agreed to help, but I don't think he can do this on his own."

Meanwhile, the little Pichu was preparing to face down an opponent. Just as Jonathan thought, he was scared out of his wits.

Jim broke through the bushes and spotted the wild Pichu. As you all know, Pichu are very hard to find in the wild, so he wasn't going to miss this chance. "Finn, use _tackle_!"

The sight of an enemy charging at him made the Pichu freeze up. Just as the tackle was about to connect, everyone heard a snap. A blur of white and green fell on top of Finn, causing her to stop the attack. Ember jumped down shortly afterwards.

"Ow… oh, hello again, Finn," Jonathan said, _Well, my surprise attack failed_.An annoyed Finn shoved Jonathan off of her.

"There you are!" Jim exclaimed, "Now I get a Ralts and a Pichu! Use _water gun_ on the both of them!" Finn shot out the torrent of water, hitting the Pichu and Jonathan simultaneously. Jim then had her use mud-shot, but Ember once again interfered.

"Seems you don't care that he doesn't want to be captured," he remarked, "Guess I'll have to beat you then. Jonathan, take care of the Pichu."

Jonathan and the Pichu climbed up a tree to view the battle between Ember and Finn. "Hey, I can help!" the Pichu complained.

"The way you froze up down there, I'd say you needed help. Don't worry, Ember already has a trainer, so he can't get caught. What's your name, anyways?"

"Me? I'm Rocky."

"I'm Jonathan. Now, let's help Ember!"

"How?"

"Like this!" Jonathan threw an acorn at Finn, throwing off her water gun's aim.

"Hey, cheaters, stay out of this!"

"I told you, I do not want to be caught by you!" Jonathan handed an acorn to Rocky, "Now you try."

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After a few more minutes, Jim decided to give up. Ember was dodging all of Finn's attacks, which were thrown off by acorns. Defeated, he withdrew Finn into her poke ball and ran off. "Hurray! We won!" Jonathan shouted. His horns felt Rocky's sense of achievement. It was obvious that he was proud of helping out. "Thanks for the help, Rocky!"

"Heh heh, no problem!"

"Good thing that Raticate led us to you!" Ember remarked.

Rocky's face then changed into one of guilt, "Actually… the Raticate was probably referring to my dad," he confessed, "He's in charge of protecting all the pokemon in this area of the forest."

"Where is he then?" Ember asked.

"He went to stop this pokemon who was causing trouble. The one who was previously spotted in the Murkrow kingdom."

"Oh, that's probably Brick. Just hit him with a blunt object and he should leave you alone," Jonathan said.

"That information could've been usefull a while ago," remarked a voice behind them. They turned to find a mouse that towered about a foot above Jonathan. His long, black whip-like tail swished back and forth, sparking with electricity. His ears were black as well, and ended in tips. Unlike Rocky, his fur was orange. "I see you've made some friends, Rocky."

He cracked his tail like a whip, releasing his electricity into the ground and charring the floor in the process. "Allow me to introduce myself, "He began, "I am Lord Volt, of the Rodent Fields."


	15. Chapter 15: Cars are not Pokemon

I would've updated sooner, but I couldn't due to the fact that I was seperated from the computer by several hundred miles.

Chapter 15: Cars are not Pokemon

Who would've known that the little Pichu we rescued would turn out to be the son of a lord? From what I learned from King Krow, it's good to have a guy with power on your side!

"Thank you, young Ralts and Charmander, for assisting my son."

"Actually, he was assisting us," I mentioned, "We were being chased by a trainer when this Raticate led us here for help."

"I see. My son is a brave boy, even though he only hatched five days ago!" Rocky had a proud look on his face when Lord Volt said that.

"Is that true?! I was hatched a week and a half before!" _Finally, I'm older than someone!_

"So, what are your names?" asked Lord Volt.

"My name is Jonathan," I said.

"And I'm Ember!"

Lord Volt nodded in acknowledgement, "You live with humans, correct? I can tell by that bowtie you're wearing."

"Yes, we live with humans. Why do you ask?"

"My son is still at a young age. I think it would be best to learn about the good and bad qualities of humans," he said, "If it is alright with you two, I would like him to accompany you from time to time so he can learn more about them."

"Sure, it's alright," Ember said.

"We can teach him a lot of things," I said.

"Very well. Would you like to go now, Rocky?"

"Yeah, dad!" Rocky exclaimed. He seemed very eager to learn about humans.

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"So, what do you think would be a good way to teach him about humans first?" Ember asked. I almost considered requesting TV, but that's not a good way for a kid to learn. Unless, of course, it's educational, but we needed him awake to learn.

"How about… the park?" I requested.

"What's a park?" Rocky asked.

"It's kinda like a meadow where humans and pokemon go to play, but it's surrounded by buildings instead of trees."

"What's a building?"

"It's a giant hollow rock full of steel and unmeltable warm ice," Ember explained in a way that was easy enough for a five day old to understand.

"Wow! How big is it?"

"Bigger than any tree in the forest," he said.

"I can't imagine that!" Rocky said.

"You don't have to," I said as we left the forest. Rocky's face lit up with wonder when he saw the city. His eyes were darting to and fro, capturing all the info he could. "ROCKY, DON'T RUN INTO THE STREET!!!"

Ember and I pinned Rocky to the ground, inches from the street. "Wow, those are huge pokemon!" he exclaimed. The pokemon he was referring to were the cars that were whizzing centimeters from our faces.

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!" Ember and I screamed simultaneously.

"Hey, Jonathan," Ember asked with a shaky tone, "Your luck doesn't rub off on others, does it?"

"No. If it did, then Jenny would've caught it years ago."

"It's that Ralts again!" yelled the familiar voice of Jim.

"Oh, for the love of… leave me alone you persistent ba-"

"Finn, use water gun!" Jim yelled before I had a chance to finish that sentence.

"Run for it!"

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Ember Rocky and I ran at top speed as Jim and Finn chased us. A short while after we started, we quickly agreed on where would be the best place to hide. As we passed the corner store for the third time (I was leading) we were closing in on the apartments where I lived. Jenny was at work now, so our best bet was Mark.

"MAAAAAAAARK!!! HEEEEEEEEEELP!!!" Ember yelled. Inside his house, Ember's trainer heard the cry of his Charmander. Grabbing his crutches, he headed outside as fast as he could.

As for us, we were trapped. I may have forgotten to mention this, but the space between Jenny's apartment and Mark's house was a dead end alley. "Why even try and bother to run?" Finn asked, "Any new pokemon Jim sees, I make sure to capture."

Rocky was shivering as he hid behind us. For some reason, the wheels in my head started spinning at high speeds when I noticed him. I don't know what provoked them, but I wasn't complaining. I thought back to the day I hatched. Fang the Houndoom said that dark beats psychic any day. I never understood what he meant by that until I learned that I was a psychic. By the statement he said, it sounded like all psychics had a weakness to dark attacks. I also remember Howler mentioning that.

Then my mind traveled back to earlier that day. When Ember was hit by that stream of water, he looked like he was really hurt, but when I was hit it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. I then realized Ember's fire abilities were susceptible to water attacks, such as Finn's.

From these deductions, I realized that Finn must've had a weakness too. Further memories showed Lord Volt crackling with electricity. I remembered a phrase from elementary science class: Water conducts electricity. Rocky, being Lord Volt's son, most likely inherited that.

These thoughts were probably basic to even starting trainers, but for people who never studied pokemon in their lives, it took a while to deduce. "Rocky, do you know any electrical attacks?" I asked.

"A-a few. Why d-do you ask?"

"Use one of them, it'll probable hurt Finn more than Ember's fire attacks!"

"A-alright."

I advised Ember, who was getting hit with enough water to fill up a pool, to stand back. As soon as he jumped out of Rocky's attack range, Rocky let out a _shocking_ bolt of _thunder_ which hit Finn dead on.

"Way to go Rocky!" we cheered. Of course, we stopped when we smelled burnt mouse. Rocky was on the floor with several sections of singed fur.

"Rocky, are you ok? That attack looked like it OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY WON'T YOU STAY DOWN?!?" Even though Rocky's attack was effective against Finn, it wasn't enough to bring her down.

"Because you are a very rare pokemon, and Jim wishes to train you." Jim took out a poke ball and aimed it. Ember charged forward, but Finn _tackled_ him, pinning him to the wall in the process. He threw the ball at me, which I dodged just in time. Unfortunately, I tripped on one of the trash can lids laying on the ground. This gave Jim enough time to pull out another ball and throw it at me before I had a chance to dodge.

The situation was pretty hopeless.


	16. Chapter 16: Mark's First Battle

Wow, over 2,000 words. That's a first for me. It also has quite a bit of character development, as well as a little emotion (which is hard as hell to write in a humor story). I hope I get a lot of reviews for this one.

Chapter 16: Mark's First Battle

The ball was moving in slow motion for Jonathan as it headed towards him. The wheels in his brain were spinning at full power, but he could think of nothing. Just as the ball was about to hit him, however, a rock flew through the air and came in contact with the poke ball, throwing it off course and away from Jonathan.

"Hey, who did that?!" yelled Jim. He turned around and found a trainer with crutches and a rock in his hands. "What'd you do that for?!"

"Keep away from those pokemon!" Mark yelled, "Can't you see how badly they don't want to be captured?!"

"What do you know?!" Jim yelled, "Pokemon are caught like this in the wild all the time!"

"We're in the city you idiot! Those rules don't apply here!" Mark responded, "City pokemon could belong to anyone!"

"Or they could not!" Jim countered.

"The Charmander's mine, the Ralts is Jennifer's, and who knows who the Pichu belongs to!" Mark counter-countered.

Jim opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't think of a response. "Fine, you win this round!" As he was leaving, he stopped. Turning around to face Mark, he asked, "So that Charmander's yours?"

"Yeah, why?"

Jonathan could've sworn he saw an exclamation point appear over Jim's head briefly when Mark answered, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

At first, Mark just stood there with a stunned look on his face, which slowly grew into a grin. Jonathan's horns felt a mix of excitement and joy. "I accept!"

"Good!" Jim said, "Meet me in three hours at the park nearby," he reached into his backpack and pulled out a purple spray, "Give this to your Charmander so he can fight at full strength!"

Mark received the POTION!

"Don't worry, I'll meet you there!"

Jim then ran off in the direction of the park, Finn following close behind. Mark turned towards the pokemon, who weren't in the best of conditions. Ember was soaked to the bone, Rocky was smoldering on the ground, and Jonathan was trying to shake them awake. "Move over, Ralts," Mark said. He aimed the potion at Ember and pulled the trigger, spraying him with the healing medicine.

He then looked over at Rocky, then to the tree that Jonathan and Ember used to reach the fire escape. He went up to the tree and pulled off some of the berries growing on it. After putting some in his pockets he gave one to Rocky. "It's an Oran Berry," he said, "It should help you heal." Within minutes, Ember and Rocky were up and about.

"That spray worked wonders!" Ember said.

"The berry was delicious!" Rocky said.

"I'm happy I didn't get hurt!" Jonathan said.

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Mark was searching through his stuff at home for a backpack he had misplaced. Jonathan, Ember, and Rocky were helping out too. "So, what's a backpack?" Rocky asked.

"It's where Mark'll keep his stuff in when he goes out to travel with me," Ember explained, "It's also where he keeps his money."

"Say, do any of us have to battle?" Jonathan asked.

"Don't worry, only I have to," Ember assured him.

Mark found his backpack and withdrew Ember into his poke ball. Mark, followed by Jonathan and Rocky, then left for the park for his first battle.

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Jim was standing in the park, watching the cars pass by. As he was wondering how much longer until Mark arrived, he heard footsteps behind him. "So, you're here at last!" he said as he turned around.

"Ummm… I don't know you," said a little boy.

"Oh, sorry then."

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"So, you're here at last!" Jim said.

"I said I'd be here, didn't I?" Mark replied, "One on one ok with you? That's all the pokemon I got."

"Sure, I only have one too."

Both trainers threw their poke balls in front of them to reveal the starter Charmander and Mudkip. The battle began immediately.

"Finn, use _water gun_!" Jim commanded.

"Dodge now!" Mark commanded!

"_Yes sir_!" Ember dodged the attack.

Now, to simplify the battle that is taking place, I am going to speak as if the trainers are not there. By this I mean that when I say something such as 'Ember used _scratch_' it does not mean that Ember had decided to use the attack, it meant that Mark had told him to use the attack and I was merely to lazy to say so. To remind you of this, I shall have the pokemon utter a phrase such as 'Alright' or '_Yes sir'_, though not always.

Finn _slapped_ some_ mud_ at Ember, but he managed to duck under it and charge towards her. Finn noticed him coming, and managed to dodge in time for Ember to _scratch_ thin air. In return, she _tackled_ him to the ground and shot a _water gun_ at him before he could get up.

Ember managed to get up, eating a berry Mark had given him before the battle. The force of water gun had caused Finn to lose a bit of balance, so she had to spend a bit of time to regain it. Mark and Ember noticed her inexperience with water gun, and, both realizing she had just learned it, took advantage of that.

"Yes sir!" Ember exclaimed. He ran at Finn and was about to _scratch_ her, when she let out a fierce _growl_. The growl surprised Ember, who slowed down the attack slightly.

After the attack, Finn shot another _water gun_ at Ember, throwing him a few feet away. Using the distance, Fin used it to gain speed for a _tackle_, but before she could reach, Ember used a _growl_ of his own. It had the desired effect, and, as with Finn, he didn't get hurt as much, giving him time to scratch her unimpeded by a growl.

Unfortunately, the close distance made Ember unable to dodge when Finn _slapped mud_ into his eyes. As Ember was _scratching_ the air in front of him, Finn shot him with _water_ from three feet to his right.

Mark reached into his backpack and pulled out another of those purple sprays. He aimed it at Ember and pulled the trigger. A thin, almost invisible needle shot out with the spray and hit Ember, disintegrating in the process. Energy returning him, Ember got up.

Charging once more towards Finn, he tripped on one of the mud puddles Finn had caused during the battle. Of course, Jim and Finn weren't going to miss this chance.

"Gotcha!" Finn yelled. She, once more, ran towards Ember in his vulnerable state. As she was running, Ember's mind began to recall experiences. He remembered holding back Leaf and Powder from Jonathan's fight with howler. He also remembered struggling to escape from the Murkrow who were throwing them into a cage, knocking some out in the process. And finally, he remembered driving off Finn earlier that day with Jonathan and Rocky's help. He had quite a bit of experience.

Aiming his mouth at Finn, he took a deep breath. He could feel the air heating up within his body. The moment Finn was an inch from his face, Ember exhaled a ball of fire at her.

Ember used _ember_.

Mark was excited that Ember had learned a fire move earlier than he had expected. Ember was excited too.

Finn, however, wasn't fazed. "You think a fire type move like that is gonna hurt me?"

Ember just stared at her with a blank expression on his face.

"I am a water type! Those attacks don't hurt my type a lot!"

Ember kept staring.

"What are you, an idiot?! That attack will not help you!"

"You're on fire," Ember said.

With this sentence, Finn finally noticed the _burning_ heat coming from her back. During the battle, she had come in enough contact with the grass that some of it stuck to her back, which is the reason she was running around screaming, "AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

As Jim panicked as he searched for a Burn Heal in his backpack, Mark began to think of a strategy. Fire attacks wouldn't hurt her that much, so they had to take a different approach. Noticing a tree they could use to their advantage, he yelled "Ember, get below that branch!"

"Affirmative, _sir_!" he yelled and followed instructions.

Once healed, Finn ran towards Ember using _tackle_. Following orders, he held his ground and braced himself for impact. As soon as she made contact, Ember grabbed onto her yellow gill things. Following further orders, he shot an _ember_ attack straight up onto the branch above.

Once it burned through, Ember jumped away, just as the flaming branch fell on Finn. She heaved the branch off with much effort, and slowly approached Ember. "You clever… little…." She then collapsed from exhaustion.

"Finn, you did good," Jim said, "Get back in your poke ball for some rest."

"Way to go, Ember!" Jonathan cheered. Rocky was cheering just as hard as he was.

"No… sweat…" Ember panted, "I'm gonna… take a nappy… now… (thump) zzzzzzz…" Mark then withdrew Ember.

"Good job, Ember! You did extremely well out there!" he then said to Jim, "I think you owe me something!"

"Meh, you got lucky. If the tree wasn't there, Finn would've beaten your Charmander," he said, "Here's your money." Once he handed Mark the money, he headed towards the Pokemon Center. "I'll want a rematch someday, who ever you are."

"The name's Mark," he said.

"Jim," he responded, "See ya around."

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It was late at night. Rocky had already gone home (accompanied by a pokemon assigned to guard him) and Jennifer was due to arrive any moment now.

"(Yawn) Jonathan, you're not sleepy?" Ember asked.

"A bit, but I'm used to staying up past ten," Jonathan responded.

"Oh," Ember shifted as he sat to get comfortable, his tail burning Jonathan as he moved. "Whoops, sorry," Ember apologized after the flame was put out.

"It's alright, it was a great waker-upper. Burns as hell though..."

Ember gave another yawn, "Quite a day, wasn't it? We met Rocky, I had my first official battle, and you almost got captured."

"Yeah…" Jonathan commented, "Hey, Ember, can you do me a favor?"

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The door opened and Jennifer entered her apartment, "I'm home!" she announced.

Jonathan immediately entered the room. "Hey, Jenny," he was getting a bit used to talking without her understanding him.

"I got a call from my dad today!" she announced.

_Haven't heard from him in a while_, Jonathan thought.

"I told him I got a Ralts living with me, and he told me a lot more than the internet could!" she then pulled a pizza box out of nowhere, "It turns out Ralts can eat pizza, as well as other human food!"

Jonathan's mouth hung open until he said, "Whatever almighty deity that did this thank you." Well, I wouldn't call myself almighty….

"Let's dig in!" She set the pizza on the table and cut it into the appropriate ten slices. She noticed that the Ralts was nowhere to be seen. "Ralts, where are you?" She then saw him come back in holding a banana.

He went through the futile process to open the banana. "Here, let me help you." Jennifer opened the banana and gave it back. Now, if any of you were to see what Jonathan was doing right now, you'd think something around the lines of '_cute_' or '_so what_?' Jennifer's expression was more like '_(stare in shock)._'

Jonathan was cutting off parts of the banana and putting them on his pizza. He noticed Jennifer's expression then looked at what he was doing, "Oh."

Back when Jonathan was human, he and Jennifer knew almost everything about each other. One of those things were what pizza toppings the other preferred, so Jennifer was surprised when the Ralts, who she thought had never eaten pizza, had the same favorite pizza topping as her deceased best friend.

Jonathan's horns began to feel a great burst of sadness, equal only to when he first approached Jennifer as a Ralts. She was trying her best to hold back tears, which Jonathan knew she was very good at. However, Jonathan felt she was very close to breaking down.

He walked up to her and held her hand, patting it in a 'don't cry' sort of way. This seemed to cheer her up a bit, not only because Jonathan felt it in his horns, but because she smiled a little. "…Thanks," she said.

Jonathan heard a tapping coming from the fire escape window. "I'll be back in a while, Jenny," he said. She seemed to get the message.

After he opened the window, he was greeted by Ember with a pounce, "Hey, Jonathan!"

"Hey, Ember," Jonathan said, "You're pouncy for a sleepy guy. So, do you have it?"

"Yep! So you're going to go through with it?"

"Yeah, Jenny seems to be in a bit of an emotional stage. This'll probably help."

"Alright then, I have to go back before Mark notices one is gone, even though he still has four of them."

"See ya Ember."

Jennifer was taking a bite out of a piece of pizza when Jonathan entered the room. The first thing she noticed was the thing he was holding in his hands. "Y-you want me to…."

Jonathan nodded and gave her the item. Jennifer had no idea what to say, so she just settled with "Ok." She pushed the button in the middle and watched enlarge in her hands. She gently threw the ball, which hit Jonathan, and watched him get covered by a red light before being drawn into the poke ball. It then shook three times, but you'd have to be looking at it really hard to notice the struggling, before it stopped. She picked it up and noticed the words that had appeared on the red area of the poke ball.

**Give a nickname to the caught RALTS?**

"Yes," Jennifer answered. The ball then instructed her to come up with a name. Looking around the room, she saw the pizza with the banana toppings. She also remembered the day she tried to give the Ralts a bath, and all the mishaps that happened to him.

"Jonathan," she told the poke ball.


	17. Chapter 17: The Pineco Cafe

I love these reviews. Especially those by Sanluris. It's fun to see what people who read my stories predict will happen. It can really give a guy ideas at times.

Chapter 17: The Pineco Cafe

At first, I was floating in darkness. My body was gone, leaving me as a formless red light. Then, I felt memories being extracted from my head. After the feeling was gone, I felt the pull of gravity, followed by a floor appearing below me. My feet reformed, as did the rest of my Ralts body.

Once I touched the ground, walls sprang up around me, followed by tiles and carpet forming on the ground. Shortly after, furniture fell from the sky into their corresponding areas. A TV, a bed, a table, and all those things. There was something familiar about everything in the room. That's when it hit me.

This was my apartment back when I was human.

I walked up to the couch and sat down. The furniture was human, but the size was made specifically for Ralts. It was as if I _was_ human again.

I then noticed something about my home. There was no roof. I looked up for a while, until I saw a flicker. Like a giant screen flickering to life, images appeared up there.

I could see Jenny's entire apartment through the roof, which had a domed shape to it, as well as a red tint.

My stomach grumbled and I went to get food from the fridge in the kitchen. Inside was a burger, which, despite being in the refrigerator, was nice and fresh. I took a bite and went to sit on the couch.

I looked to the sides and sighed. Like back in my real apartment, the control was long lost. I had lost a lot of things back when I was human. Like that time I had lost my wallet for the fifth time, or that time I lost all the furniture in my house when I stepped out for a while. Good thing the police managed to find them. I just wish they hadn't done _that_ to the furniture. I'm not telling what they did, it still gives me shudders.

I got up and manually turned the TV on like all those times back at my real home. Static. Great. Looks like television signals can't penetrate the poke ball.

The reddish images shown on the dome ceiling suddenly turned fully red, indicating the lights were turned off in Jenny's room. I decided to go to sleep too and made my way to the bedroom. It was all just as I remembered it.

Except for the useless TV and domed roof.

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I woke up with a yawn, almost forgetting I was a pokemon. I remembered when I saw myself in the mirror. I jumped back in surprise, falling into the tub. It had no water.

On the bright side, I wasn't falling into it at twenty-five miles an hour.

I got up and looked up at the domed roof. Jenny was awake now and getting ready for work. She was changing into her unifo……… seriously, it was like my neck was frozen in place.

After putting on her uniform, she walked towards me (from an outside perspective, she was walking towards the poke ball). She picked it up and threw it on the ground. Nothing happened.

I looked around and saw a sign that said 'exit' above the door that was supposed to go to the rest of the apartment building. "Oh," I said as I remembered this wasn't an apartment building. I opened the door and was pulled out as if I had just opened an airlock in space.

I felt myself reform in front of Jenny as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she said, "I thought I did something wrong!" she then walked over to me, "So how was it in the poke ball?"

"I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING I HAD MY EYES CLOSED!!!" I said. I don't think I'm very good at lying about things like that.

"Awww, I wish I could hear what you were saying!" apparently, my lying handicap didn't matter. "Hey, do you want to go to work with me today?"

How could I refuse such a request?

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Jenny carried me to the Pineco Café herself. All the while, my face was beet red. She carried me in the huggy sort of way a little girl holds her dolly.

I couldn't help but be red, I was being held that way by my best friend! I missed my date with her, plus I was dead in a sense, so I didn't feel like I could call her my girlfriend. At least, I don't think I can. I don't know about these things.

Back on track, I wish she had taken me in the poke ball instead. But then again, it would be very dark inside her pocket. "We're here!" I looked up and saw the Pineco Café. The exterior was shaped a bit like the pokemon it was named after and the inside smelled like pinecones.

Jenny set me down on the counter nearby and went to get her things ready. As I waited, I used my time waiting to look around. Lots of people sitting around with their friends. Some chatting, some playing games they brought with them. A few were on their laptops. I saw two on handheld games using Wi-Fi. I wanted one of those, they didn't have joysticks.

Unfortunately, I also saw a group of the biggest jerks I knew. They were a group of bullies that had tormented me and Jenny ever since we were in the third grade. They were led by one who I hated more than all the others put together. Thomas, a.k.a. Tommy.

Tommy was a jerk among jerks. He bragged about any little thing he could. Like the fact that he was a year older than me (well, seventeen years older now)! Another thing he bragged about was that he believed he was smarter than me due to his better grades at school (I always misplaced my work)! And the worst thing about it was the fact that he constantly bragged about having possibly the best luck in the world!

Not to mention he was a jerk, did I mention that already?

As I glared angrily at him, the bell above the doorway dinged as another customer ran in. Unfortunately, he couldn't turn in time to dodge Tommy, who had suddenly decided to stand up. "What do we have here?"

I couldn't see who it was that Tommy was threatening, but I could sense his fear. That was understandable, seeing as Tommy was a foot taller than him. "Hello there, little guy. I think you hit me just now." Once the kid got up, Tommy firmly held his shoulder. "You know what they say. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!" Tommy was reeking of maliciousness.

I heard a familiar growl come from next to the kid. "Let him go!" said the pokemon next to him. The voice clicked, and I realized she was a Mudkip. Now I knew who the kid was.

Finn annoyed Tommy, so he pinned her down with his foot. I jumped off the counter and casually walked towards the trash can. "Hey, leave Finn alone!"

I reached the trash can and took a look inside. "Nah, the little thing bugs me."

I took a soda can out and weighed it a bit. "Let! Her! Go!"

I tossed it back in the can and pulled out another one. "You annoy me as well. Let me introduce you to my knuckle."

The can I got this time was pretty heavy, seeing as it was full of soda. Tommy clenched his fist to punch Jim in the face.

The can was good enough.


	18. Chapter 18: The Machine

It's hard to write Thomas. I have to make him sound calm, furious, evilish, civilized, and a lot of things at the same time. Also, there's the fact that this is a humor story, so I have to make parts funny. The finished version is the fourth draft!

Chapter 18: The Machine

Thomas stood there stunned for a while before turning around. He didn't know who, but someone had thrown a full can of soda at him when his back was turned.

Once he saw who it was, he was surprised to see it was a pokemon that didn't reach two feet off the ground. He cracked his knuckles, "Well, little guy, you must not be from around here, if you had enough guts to throw a can of soda at me," he then cracked his neck pretty loudly, "You don't know who you're dealing with!"

Jonathan gave a little laugh, "Ah, Tommy. I see you're still stealing cheesy quotes from wherever you can find them!"

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Thomas. It would be in your best interest to say you're sorry for throwing that can at me!" he said, clearly making a threat.

"You suck."

"Good," Thomas said, believing Jonathan had apologized, "But that still's not enough to appease my anger."

Jonathan could feel Thomas's anger increase. It didn't matter that he had (not) received an apology, he was still going to beat up the pokemon. Fortunately for Jonathan, the moment Thomas had stepped towards him, the mudkip that was trapped under his foot ren towards Jonathan, turned, and shot water straight into Thomas's face.

"Gah! Someone get that pokemon!" he yelled to his cronies. All of Thomas's followers ran towards Finn at once, causing them to slip on the puddle around Thomas and on top of him. Thomas took a deep breath and breathed out slowly.

"GET THE HELL OFFA ME!!!" they got off him in a flash for fear of getting their faces pounded in. Thomas got back up and remembered what he was doing. "Oh, right. The annoying little Poke-"

BONK!

"What's wrong with you, Ralts?!" Finn yelled at Jonathan for throwing another can at Thomas.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Jonathan."

"I don't care, that human looks like he could easily crush you beneath his foot!"

"Yeah, but he wouldn't dare attack anyone, human or pokemon, in public."

"But what when we're out of the public!"

"He doesn't hold a grudge very long, though he would still act like a jerk around you. Just make sure you don't annoy him in a private area."

"(Gulp) Why not?"

"He tends to carry weapons everywhere he goes, and he isn't scared to scar/end the life of a pokemon as long as no one's looking." Unfortunately for Jonathan, while he was explaining the dangers of Thomas, said danger had snuck up on them. Fortunately for him, though, I decided to give him another small burst of luck.

"Tommy, leave him alone!" One of the managers had heard a commotion coming from their area and asked Jennifer to check it out. She was now glad she didn't refuse.

"Don't call me Tommy, Jennifer," Thomas said with a venomous tone.

"I won't if you step away from the Ralts." Thomas complied. "Now, please leave. You're driving away out customers." Indeed, some of the customers had left in a hurry the moment they sensed trouble brewing. Some had even left the moment they noticed Thomas was there!

"I was planning to go once I noticed you worked here," Thomas grumbled as he left. All his cronies followed as well.

Jim, who was freed when the bullies left, went to Jennifer to pick up his Mudkip. "Thanks for running them out," he said.

"No need for the thanks, if I hadn't run them out, then someone else would've. It's not the first time it's happened."

Jim noticed that there was a blue bowtie tied around the young Ralts' neck. "Finn, is that the same Ralts we met yesterday?" She hadn't noticed it before, but once Jim had pointed it out the memory returned. She nodded a yes.

"So you're the Ralts' trainer then?" he asked a little glumly.

"Well, I wouldn't call myself a trainer, but I do own his poke ball."

"Great, he does have a trainer. No wonder they wouldn't let me catch it! Man, it's very hard to find those guys out there in the wild! Oh well, I'll probably find another one if I look hard enough. I know, I'll go search right now!" Jim then ran out the door almost forgetting Finn. He remembered in time and withdrew her before he was out the door.

"Wow, he's got quite a bit of energy."

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After a while, everyone had forgotten that incident and had gone back to what they were doing. Jennifer was running to and fro collecting orders, the customers were eating, and Jonathan was eavesdropping on their conversations.

Just as Jonathan was about to hear about someone's private life, he spotted a machine that he had always adored. It was a machine where you put money into, and if you were lucky, you won a prize.

He ran up to Jennifer and began tugging on her sock to get her attention (think 'cute'). "What is it, little guy?" Jonathan pointed towards the machine he wanted to use. "Awww, you want to play the crane game, don't you Jonny? Here's a dollar, good luck!" she then went back to her work.

Jonathan walked towards the machine, and as he passed the crane game he thought, _I didn't notice that a crane game was installed recently_. He then arrived at the machine he was aiming for.

He put the dollar in and picked the one with the most promesing results. The machine made a whirring noise and out popped what he wanted. He took it and used one of the coins he got for change to scratch. "……Seven!…… Seven!!!... Pikachu……… damn."

Jonathan tossed the lottery ticket in the trash and went back to eavesdropping.

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Jennifer sighed, relieved that she could go home now. It had been a long day, with more people ordering than usual. Not to mention someone threw up on Jonathan. That was a hassle.

"C'mon, Jonny, let's go home," her grip on Jonathan tightened. He found out why when Jennifer said, "It's been a while since your last bath."

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Jonathan was sitting on the couch squeaky clean. His hair was pure green again, as was his body white and his face red. The red went away after a while.

Jennifer sat down next to him. She was wearing more comfortable clothing and the red returned. Jonathan was glad empathy didn't work both ways.

"This just in!" the TV announcer spoke up, "Local resident Thomas Fros has just won first place in a contest he had entered! Millions of envelopes were mailed, and out of all of them, the one, single envelope Thomas had mailed won at a random draw! Thomas will be spending the next month on an all expense paid trip to the Sevii Islands!"

"Why does that jerk get so much luck?" Jennifer asked.

"Who knows. Probably some dark ritual or something," Jonathan joked. "Still, I hate that lucky son of a-"

End of Chapter 18.


	19. Chapter 19: That One Feeling

Distractions are distracting. Especially weddings. They can last for hours. Still, good to know that families were formed. That, and I got to play Marvel vs. Capcom at the reception. Lost about ten dollars to that machine. (P.S. I'm gonna try to reply more to reviews now, seeing as their numbers have dropped significantly)

Chapter 19: That One Feeling

Ziggy listened with wide eyes as Rocky recounted the epic tale of how he met me and Ember. "Just as the Mudkip was about to attack me, Jonathan dove out of the tree and tackled her to the ground! Then Ember came and started scratching like crazy!"

"Wooooow," that Pichu sure had an imagination. Just as he was about to say how we were throwing nuts the size of Tamato Berries, we heard a tapping coming from the window. I went to answer it and was pounced upon in another Hobbes-like manner by Ember.

"Hello guys and Ziggy!" he said, "Whatcha doing?"

"Rocky was telling me how you and Jonathan were fighting off that trainer with his help!"

"Did he tell you about the battle yet?" he asked.

"I was just getting to that part!" Rocky said, "Once we made it to the city, we met the trainer and his Mudkip again! He was almost gonna catch Jonathan when Ember's trainer appeared and was challenged-" I tuned him out of my mind when I noticed Ember had something around his neck.

"Hey, Ember, what's that around your neck?" I asked.

A proud smile appeared on his face when I asked this. "This thing? Only something no fire type should be without!" he said holding it up for all to see. "My dad gave it to me before he left with Mark's dad. It's a piece of charcoal that boost the fire that I use, tied to a string to form a convenient necklace! This way, my hands are free to have something else to hold!"

"So why didn't you wear it before?" I asked.

Ember's face grew even more proud, "Because I earned it! My dad told me to wear it once I learned my first fire attack, which I did a lot earlier than I expected!" My horn felt very, very proud.

As soon as Rocky finished his tale of wonder, Ziggy got up from where she was laying down. "I've got to go now," she said, looking at the clock, "Sam said we were going to the park when the short stick on the clock pointed to the right."

"Alright then, see ya later," I said.

"I'll tell you more about the battle next time!" Rocky called as she jumped out the open window.

"Um, Ember, may you please get offa me?"

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A lone Pachirisu of Rodent Fields was jumping from tree to tree when a rock almost hit him in the head. The group of kids were playing 'throw a rock as far as you can' didn't notice that a pokemon was up in the trees.

In an attempt to dodge the incoming projectiles, the Pachirisu jumped into thin air. Thankfully for him, he landed on a cart full of non-pokemon fish (Pokemon don't taste good) that was brought over from the port.

The moment the Pachirisu landed on the fish kart, it toppled over and all the fish fell onto the street. The moment this happened, a car rode over one of the fish and skidded off road, crashing into a tree and exploding (Don't worry, the driver jumped out of the car in time Hollywood-style).

One of the pieces of debris flew through the air and straight through Jenny's apartment window. The debris hit a frying pan's handle causing it to fall off the oven and send its contents flying through the air. I turned around just in time to get hit in the face by uncooked hamburger patties.

"Nutty!" I heard Rocky cry out.

"What's Nutty?" I asked, still blinded by the patties. I took them off to find a Pachirisu had jumped through the window, "And who are you?"

"I'm Nutty. Pleased to make your acquaintance," he turned to Rocky, "Excuse me, young Lord, but Lady Lema has requested me to come and escort you home, seeing as it's getting dark."

"Awww, can't mom let me stay just a little while longer?"

"I am sorry, but she asked me to bring you home right away. If not, I was given permission to thunder wave you and bring you back home."

Rocky winced a bit before he agreed to return with him. "Your friends may come to say goodbye if they wish to," Nutty added. Both Ember and I decided to follow.

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"See ya tomorrow, Rocky!" we yelled out to him as he left. He waved goodbye before following Nutty back into the trees.

"So what now?" Ember asked.

"Park's close by. Why don't we go join Ziggy?"

"Ok. It's better than watching TV."

As we walked to the park, Ember decided to start a conversation. "Hey, Jonathan, don't you think that Pachirisu's name was funny?"

"You mean Nutty…? Now that you mention it, that is a weird name." That Pachirisu was definitely a wild pokemon, so he should've had a more natural name. Ziggy, for instance, was named by a five year old, so it was natural that she had such a name as that. Nutty, however… I really doubt his parents went 'I know! Why don't we call our son Nutty?' "Let's try to ask him next time we see him."

As mentioned before, the park was close by, so we only managed to have one conversation on the way there. It didn't matter much to Ember, who scurried off in glee leaving me to run after him.

Strangely, as I was following Ember in search of Ziggy, my horn began to act up again. One feeling I felt was a mix of anger and frustration, while he other felt agressive and… I couldn't quite put my finger on that one feeling.

Running ahead to see what was causing such negative emotions, I found the anger coming from someone who I already knew. Ziggy close to crying in frustration as a bully was annoying her. Of course, who else could this bully be but Howler.

As I approached, I was interrupted when _razor_ sharp _leaves_ imbedded themselves into the ground before me shuriken-style. I was about to see where the shot came from, when I began to smell a _sweet scent_. It smelled nice. I was snapped back into reality when another _leaf_ nicked my shoulder.

Looking around, I noticed nothing but a lone weed in the field, which I was quick to ignore. As I turned to go help out Ziggy, I didn't notice the weed rise out of the ground.

I heard a scream and turned around to find Leaf the Oddish rolling around the ground putting out the fire. Ember wasn't too far off. "Thanks, Ember," I said.

"Ambush successful! Go lend support to Private Ziggy!" He yelled towards me, going back into military mode.

"Uh, ok..." I turned to help Ziggy just as Ember was countering Powder's sneak attack.

"And your trainer's a wimp! I could take him with my eyes closed!" Howler boasted.

"Nuh-uh! He can kick really hard!" Ziggy responded.

"Ahem," I interrupted, "What's going on here?"

"Oh, it's you," Howler said.

"Jonathan!" Ziggy whined, "Howler's picking on me!"

"Now now, Howler, play nice," I said, earning a growl from the Poochyena.

"You can't tell me what to do!" he said as he leaped forward to bite me. I picked up a nearby stick and used it to block his attack. It was rather hard to push him off, seeing as he pinned me to the ground. A horn between the eyes later and the canine was off.

Holding him back had proved to be exhausting due to the fact that Ralts were not designed for physical labor. This knowledge hit me right in the face as I realized that this was my first time in my Ralts body that I had actually blocked an attack instead of just dodging it, and it was pretty exhausting.

Unfortunately, I had to do it again as Howler went for a tackle. More unfortunate for me, the stick snapped and I was thrown backwards. As he went for another tackle, I kicked my legs at him, hitting him square in the jaw. Even though I had a weak body, that attack did more damage than it should have. I'd worry about that later.

As Howler howled in anger, I took the chance to get another stick, this one thicker than the last. I braced myself for impact, but it never came. Opening my eyes, I saw Leaf and Powder yelling at Howler, saying that they couldn't hold back the Charmander any longer.

"Well, nobody told you to fight him, you jumpy, battle-ready Oddish!"

"Sorry," Leaf said. It was then I noticed that Leaf had a feminine voice. It's hard to tell the gender between Oddishes.

"Seriously though, can we go now? I wanna find some Rawst Berries to treat these burns!" Powder exclaimed. He was definitely male.

"Grrrr, alright! Count yourself lucky, Ralts!" he yelled as he _ran away_.

I still couldn't put my finger on that feeling, but it felt familiar.

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"Thanks again!" Ziggy said.

"Your welcome, now get offa me!" I said. It seems Ziggy was just as pouncy as Ember. "See ya tomorrow, Ziggy," I said as we left the park as the sun set the sky.

On the way home, me and Ember began another conversation. "Hey, Ember, I think there may be more to Howler than we think."

"Really? He seems like a plain ol' jerk to me."

"There's something about him that I can't put my finger on. I can barely sense the emotion coming from him, but I'm sure there's one there. I'm not sure what that emotion is, however."

"You probably can't sense it because he's a dark type. They can block anything psychic thrown at them."

"That would explain why it's hard to sense it." We had arrived home, "G'night, Ember."

"See ya tomorrow, Jonathan!"

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That night, as I slept in my poke ball, I had a strange dream. Nothing big happened, but it was strange nonetheless.

I was floating in what appeared to be an incredibly dense fog. My horn was aching with sadness coming from all directions. Other than that, nothing but a cloudy white abyss.

I woke up feeling sad myself.


	20. Chapter 20: Paying Respects

I got no idea how to pronounce Kanto (I believe it's Khan-toe). If you know how, please mention it in a review.

Chapter 20: Paying Respects

Jonathan had shrugged off that dream, dismissing it as just another nightmare. He was over it pretty quickly.

Currently, he was alone in his poke ball. Ember and Mark had gone off to train a little, Ziggy was going with Sam somewhere, and Rocky wouldn't come until the next day.

It was the first moment of peace he truly did have ever since becoming a Ralts. Yawning, he placed his head on his hands as he lay on his bed. As he did, he felt his hand brush something in his hair. Pulling it out, he found it only to be the relic.

Letting his mind wander, he thought back to that day when he got it. The antique store, the Ursaring, and the drop of oil that fell in his eye. Then he woke up and found himself in an egg.

Then he realized something was off when he hatched. Looking down at the relic, he thought, _When that car hit me, I hatched in a place far away from where I was run over. How is it, then, that the relic was with me when I got out of the egg?_

_How is it that I hatched out of the egg in the first place? I should be wherever it is that people go when they die… yet I'm still here. Not to mention the design. Ziggy mentioned she saw it somewhere. Of only she remembered where._

Though he couldn't prove it, Jonathan was certain that the relic and his resurrection had to be connected somehow. Getting up, he headed towards the door to his 'apartment'. Putting the light blue object back in his hair, he left the poke ball to go to the antique shop.

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He managed to sneak past Jennifer successfully, leaving her to think that he was still in his poke ball. He had no problem getting out undetected, his one foot four status assuring him that. The problem was that he had yet to find a route that didn't lead him to that damn corner store.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the antique shop. A little tired from walking around for the past hour, he found an empty lot with a bench in it to sit down. He somehow felt like he had been here before.

Looking to his side, he saw a Laundromat. A spark of hope flickered inside of him. He remembered that there had been a Laundromat right next to the antique shop! Reaching further into his memory, he also remembered a shop full of instruments on the shop's other side.

And there it was! ...On the other side of the empty lot…. Something wasn't right here.

Right where Jonathan was standing was the former location of the antique shop where he got the relic, only the shop wasn't there with it.

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Jonathan had spent well over an hour trying to decide what his next course of action would be. So far, nothing came to mind.

He was thrown off his train of thought that was leading him nowhere when he heard someone say, "Hey, look sis! It's a pokemon!"

Looking up, he saw a little boy whose eyes were full of wonder at the sight of a pokemon he had never seen before. The boy looked familiar. "Careful, Sam, it might be dangerous!" _Oh, yeah. It's the boy I pushed out of the car's path. He owes me big time._

"What pokemon is it, Claire?" Sam asked.

"Who knows, I'm not a trainer yet."

"Do you think it wants to play with Ziggy?"

"Oh yeah, you're Ziggy's trainer!" Jonathan said.

"It talked!" Sam exclaimed.

"It said Ralts, that must be its name," Clair responded. "Go ahead and release Ziggy, she might know him from all the time she spends the time away from home."

"How do you know it's a he?"

"He's wearing a bowtie." _Thank you very much, Jenny._

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"So what were you doing over in that empty lot all by yourself?" Ziggy asked.

"Not much. I was searching for something that used to be there. Got myself lost a couple of times."

"What were you searching for?"

"Kinda hard to explain. Either way, it's not there anymore."

"So what was it?"

"A two story high antique shop."

Ziggy laughed a little, "You're silly, buildings don't disappear into thin air!"

"This one did."

Sam and Clair stopped walking when they arrived at their destination. In front of them was a cross imbedded in the grass next to the road. Jonathan observed as Sam took out some flowers from somewhere and placed them next to the cross. _Great, more sensitive moments_, Jonathan thought as his horns began to act up.

"Remember when we first ran into each other the other day?" Ziggy asked.

"How could I forget?" Jonathan remarked, "There was a dead body nearby."

"Yeah… it was scary. I thought that I was gonna lose my best friend," Ziggy said, eyes beginning to water up. "Then that guy pushed him outta the way… but he (sniff)… we… we never got to thank him…."

Jonathan sighed, "Maybe if you say so right now he'll hear you."

"… Maybe you're right." Ziggy walked up to the cross, "Thank you for saving my friend mister. If you didn't, then I would have been very sad. I hope wherever you are you've got a lot of friends with you."

"Nice speech, Ziggy. I'm sure he has a lot of good friends wherever he is," Jonathan said with a smirk. He looked up at Sam and Clair as they paid their respects.

"I'm sorry that you aren't here right now. It's probably my fault that your (sniff)… I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, and because of that you…you… whaaaaa!!!"

"(Sigh) Like trainer, like pokemon." Jonathan walked up to Sam and started patting his back, "It's not your fault, I-err he was the one who chose to push you out of the way. He wouldn't want you crying over him like this. Personally, I prefer being thanked over being apologized to."

The boy seemed to have gotten the message somehow and turned back towards the cross, "(Sniff)… Thank you mister for saving me. I wont let you die for no reason! I'm gonna become someone important someday, I promise!"

"Yeah, you do that. It's probably the best way to pay me back."

Clair looked at her watch, "Sam, it's time to go now. I think the guy gets it."

"(Sniff) Alright sis."

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"Do you remember what pokemon it was that my relic was shaped after?" Jonathan asked.

"What relic?" Ziggy asked. Jonathan pulled it out and showed it to her again, "Oh, that! No, I don't remember."

"(Sigh) It's alright, Ziggy, we'll figure it out eventually." As they passed the empty lot, Jonathan noticed a hole on the ground that he didn't notice before. Just as they were about to turn the corner, Jonathan decided to leave them for now. "See ya tomorrow, Ziggy. I'm gonna go check out something." He left before he got a response from her.

He looked down into the hole. It was fairly deep, enough to make a nice home. "Hello, is anybody home?!" he called down.

His call had attracted the attention of an old Sandshrew, who popped out to greet him, "Hello there, young man! What brings you here?"

"I was wondering if you knew what happened to the building that used to be there. You know, the antique shop."

The pokemon blinked for a while, "What do you mean? There never was any antique shop around here. I've been living here for about a year now, so I would know if there ever was a shop above my home."

The remark stunned Jonathan for a while, "Are you sure? I remember going into one around here about two weeks ago."

"Yes, I am sure. Now, if you excuse me, I'm gathering up my stuff to move out," he went back into his hole.

"(Sigh again) Sorry for wasting your time, then," Jonathan said before he walked off.

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Jonathan jumped into the window, relieved that he hadn't gotten caught. He took three steps before he realized just how wrong he was. "Jonny, what were you doing out there!"

"Swell, just swell," Jonathan mumbled to himself before turning around to face Jennifer. "You're probably wondering what I was doing outside on my own since I'm young and it's dangerous outside, but I don't have an alibi, so I'm just going to act like what I just said was an alibi."

Jennifer saw right through his scheme.


	21. Chapter 21: Feather Duster

Yes!!! Over 5000 hits for this story! Though there's still the fact that most of those hits are for individual chapters, and many people probably reread it sometimes. But still, I got 5000 hits!

Oh, and Happy Halloween! Unless, of course, you don't celebrate it for whatever reason.

Chapter 21: Feather Duster

As I swept the kitchen counter with a feather duster, I pondered how Jenny could've known that I didn't have an alibi. Perhaps it was the tone of voice. Yeah, that must've been it.

I grabbed a small flashlight and made my way behind the refrigerator. "Oh my god! How the hell is it possible that this much dust can gather up in one small place?!" Needless to say, I wasn't enjoying my experience.

I left the fridge for a while so I could replace the feather duster with a small plastic shovel. Three hours later, the back of the fridge was dust free, but the trash can now deserved to be burned, buried, and left to rot. I pray for whatever pokemon is unlucky enough to dig it up.

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On break for a while, I sat on the couch to watch TV just as Jenny entered the apartment. She went to check on how good a job I did on cleaning the kitchen of dust. "Wow Jonny, you did a better job than I expected!" I heard her call. I couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride inflate my ego a bit. "You even cleaned the back of the fridge! You didn't have to do that, thanks!" _Didn't… have… to do… that…._

_Ah well, what's done is done_, I thought to myself.

I turned back to the TV News, "-and while the body was never found, we're sure that the belt buckle factory's owner's leftover trousers hold the key to locating the culprit's whereabouts," Just what the hell did I miss when I turned my head? "In other news, rumor has it that Team Orion is planning something big that may affect the lives of everyone that lives in this city. Local authorities have yet to release further information on the matter for fear of mass panic."

_Well at least I'm not the only one in danger this time_, I thought. I got off the sofa and walked over to the window. I had to spend the whole day cooped up dusting the house. On the plus side, if I managed to dust the whole apartment before the day was done, then I could go out again.

I picked up the feather duster and began on the living room. The living room wasn't too bad. I got to watch TV as I worked.

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I walked towards the lamp and let a groan. It was one of those tall, thin lamps with the bulb at the very top. The lamp was pretty tall, so I sensed trouble. Holding the feather duster's handle with my mouth, I climbed it as I was climbing a mountain.

All I had to do to clean the lamp was shake my head as if I were saying no and the duster in my mouth did the job. There was still the fact that there was nothing to hold on to as I climbed.

Several times I slid down as I dusted and cleaned the same spot twice. That sucked.

As I inched my way up the lamp, I couldn't see where I was going or what was around me thanks to the duster. Eventually, I found a foothold, but because I couldn't see it I ignored the clicking sound it made.

A few minutes later I made it to the top. You'd think I'd be happy, but the fact that there was a hole where was the bulb used to be didn't make my day. Neither did the fact that I accidentally stuck my finger in it in my blindness. I wouldn't have minded that at all, but I was a little bit displeased about the fact that the foothold I found earlier was actually the on switch. Remember the clicky noise?

So as I was thinking of what a fine day I was having while thousands of volts of electricity were coursing through my body, I was relieved to find out that a miniature explosion freed me and launched my a few feet away from the lamp.

That was painful, like the time I was accidentally volunteered for a Tauros run, or like the time I got hit in the place no man should be hit in with a stray baseball.

Luckily as a pokemon of the psychic class, I was able to take these kinds of attacks over the more physical ones. I got up and mumbled to myself that I was never going to clean another lamp again.

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The bathroom was usually wet, so I didn't have to dust much there. The bedroom wasn't as bad as the kitchen or living room, but it was still worse than the bathroom due to the six foot tall wardrobe. I fell off.

Risky Situation plus Sensory Neurons minus Luck plus Chance equals Pain. I call that the Jonathan Equation.

After I was done, I climbed onto the couch and let myself rest for a few minutes. Jenny was observant enough to notice that I was tired and brought me a pillow. I told her "Thanks" to which she responded with a "You're welcome." She's always been good at reading people's tone of voice.

I was too tired to move my body anymore, so I turned my head to push the remote with my horn. After a few tries, I got it on.

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I don't know how long I was asleep, but when I woke up, the news was over. That rest did well for me, as I felt good enough to go outside.

Bad news was, it was dark out. Drat.

Instead of just sitting there whining, I went over to Jenny's room to use the computer. She was in the shower, so I didn't have to worry about her asking how a pokemon knew how to use the World Wide Web.

I can't think of a sentence to end this chapter wi-


	22. Chapter 22: One, Two, and Z

The last chapter got me five reviews, and I'm really glad that my story is getting so many of them. It makes me see how many people like it. I can't think of what else to add, so I'll just start the story.

Chapter 22: One, Two, and Z

PKMNMSTR45: So if U could B any pokemon U wanted 2 B, which would U choose?

Headbutter99: Any with headbutt, that's a cool attack

Ralts32: Can I avoid this question?

PKMNMSTR45: Sure, we no what pokemon U wanna B

Headbutter99: Yea 'Ralts32'

PKMNMSTR45: g2g bye

Headbutter99: me to C ya!

(PKMNMSTR45 has left the chat room)

(Headbutter99 has left the chat room)

Jonathan would've left at that moment due to the fact that there was nobody to chat with, but before he could leave, three new people entered.

(ALPHA123 has entered the chat room)

(Beta456 has entered the chat room)

(G4mmA789 has entered the chat room)

Ralts32: Hey

Beta456: Hello, Ralts32.

ALPHA123: GREETINGS.

G4mmA789: hALL0!!1!

Ralts32: So what subject would you care to talk about?

ALPHA123: HOW ABOUT THE SUBJECT KNOWN AS POKEMON?

Beta456: Yes, Pocket Monsters are a fascinating subject.

_What the hell's a Pocket Mon… oh, right. Pokemon._

Ralts32: Sure, I can't think of anything

G4mmA789: I leik Y0gUrT!!1!

Beta456: That's nice. Now then, what do you think a pokemon could do for us humans?

G4mmA789: Fr33 p1zZA??/?

Beta456: Gamma, go play in traffic for a while, will you please?

G4mmA789: 0kei!!

(G4mmA789 has left the chat room)

ALPHA123: DO NOT WORRY, NO HARM SHALL BEFALL GAMMA.

Ralts32: So are you three related?

Beta456: In a sense, yes. Back on subject, what do you believe about the uses of pokemon, Alpha?

ALPHA123: I BELIEVE THAT POKEMON SHOULD BE CONFINED TO AREAS WHERE THEY WOULD DO THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF DAMAGE TO HUMAN PROPERTY, SUCH AS LABORATORIES WHERE PEOPLE CAN KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THEM.

Beta456: Yes, I agree with you on that subject, Alpha.

Jonathan was a little shocked that they would speak in such a way about pokemon. They must've been joking, it was a chat room after all. People tended to joke around there.

Ralts32: You 2 are joking, right?

Beta456: actually, no. We are quite serious. There are people who do that for a living, myself included.

Ralts32: You can't do that sort of thing! It's unfair to the pokemon.

Jonathan was sure that they were joking, but in case they weren't, he wasn't going to go on with their joke. His suspicions of them joking were proven correct.

ALPHA789: YOU'RE RIGHT, IT IS UNFAIR.

Beta456: We were merely assuring ourselves that you felt that pokemon should be treated kindly and respectfully.

Now Jonathan was getting confused.

Ralts32: Why would U need to test me for that?

ALPHA123: FIRST, A QUESTION.

Beta456: If a pokemon were to be in a life threatening situation, would you help it out even if it meant risking your own life?

Ralts32: Of course I would. I helped out a whole murder of Murkrow once & almost got beaten up by a Tyrogue

Beta456: … That is all I needed to know. You passed out little test.

Ralts32: Why was I being tested?

ALPHA123: WE ARE NOT SURE IF YOU'LL BELIEVE US, BUT WE ARE IN REALITY POKEMON OURSELVES.

Ralts32: You don't say…

Beta456: We are running away from out current trainer, and are asking for your help to escape.

(G4mmA789 has entered the chat room)

G4mmA789: I bRo3K TrEhe cArz!1!

ALPHA123: NOT NOW, GAMMA.

Ralts32: Sure, I guess I could help you.

Beta456: Great, we'll come to your home immediately.

_Wait, they're coming here?_

Ralts32: When will you be here?

G4mmA789: RaIgh7 N0w!!!1!1!

Jonathan's screen suddenly want black. Just as he was going to hit it a couple of times to make sure it was alright, sparks of electricity began to surround the monitor. Not wanting to get shocked twice in a day, he jumped back in surprise, falling onto the floor in the process.

Strands of zeroes and ones left the monitor and began to meld together into three individual orbs of pink and blue light. Once the strands of numbers were done merging together, loads of wires sprung out of them, forming shapes. One of them seemed to be blocky while the other two were smoother.

After the shapes were completed, color began to fill the wires. The last step completed, Jonathan stood before what he could best describe as three pink and blue ducks.

The one on the left had a blocky built body. The middle one was smoother and looked like one of those ducks with long necks that bobbed up and down into a glass as if drinking water. The last one on the right had its head detached from its body. The middle one spoke up, "Hello, human. As you can see, we are… where's the human?"

"Uh… hello," I spoke up.

All three stared at Jonathan. He clearly was not what they expected. "OMG A taLkin MuzhR00m!!1!" said the erratic looking one.

The blocky one spoke up, "RALTS, THE FEELING POKEMON. 1 FT. 4 IN., 14.6 LBS."

"We know, Alpha," said the bobbing looking one, " I'm sure Gamma got the message." It turned to me, "Now, little guy, can you tell us where the human on the computer went to?"

"… Did you three just come out of the computer?"

"Poor little guy must be in shock," said it replied, "I believe it would be best if we introduced ourselves first."

"I AM THE PORYGON KNOWN AS ALPHA," said the blocky one.

"You may address me as Beta, the Porygon 2," said the smooth one.

"Ah Hat3 Y0gUrT!!1!" said the erratic one, contradicting what it said in the chat room a while back. "It'S d3L1ce0s!!!" it added, further contradicting what it said less than a second ago.

"Pardon him, please. He acquired a virus during his evolution," Beta explained. "His name is Gamma, the Porygon-Z."

"WE ARE BEINGS THAT CONSIST ENTIRELY OF DATA," Alpha said, "THAT IS THE PRIMARY REASON WE WERE CAPABLE OF TRAVELING THROUGH YOUR COMPUTER."

"Data… alright then. You wanted to know who the one you were talking to on the internet was, right?" Jonathan asked.

"Ye4h."

"Well, you weren't exactly talking to a human," Jonathan continued, "I was the one who you were chatting with. My name's Jonathan, by the way."

All three of them stared at him with what he assumed to be a shocking expression. Beta was the one to speak up, "Well, it isn't impossible. Psychic types do tend to have intelligence further above other pokemon."

"I AM QUITE SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE A POKEMON," Alpha said, "NORMALLY, IT IS ONLY HUMANS THAT USE THE WORLD WIDE WEB."

"Yeah, I was surprised about being a pokemon too," before the Porygons got a chance to ask what he meant, the sound of the shower stopped. "Oh, Jenny's coming. Maybe she can help you three out." At that moment, Alpha dashed into the TV, Beta into the computer, and Gamma into the radio. "Uh, what are you three doing?"

"We're sorry, Jonathan, but we are not yet sure that we can trust your trainer," Beta explained, "We can't just trust her, in fact, we're not fully capable of trusting you yet."

"Then why'd you try to test my trust through a chat room?"

"THE PLAN WAS GAMMA'S."

"A11 j0ur B4s3 R b3L0nG 2 Uz!"

All the appliances turned off before Jonathan got a chance to further complain. He also got shocked again when he tried to turn them back on manually, "Ow, that hurt you-" He was cut off mid sentence as Jenny entered the room. She had thought ahead to bring clothes with her into the bathroom, so Jonathan was spared a moment of awkwardness in front of the Porygons.

"Hey, Jonny, would you like something to eat?" Jonathan's stomach, upon being reminded how long it had been since he had eaten, answered for him. "I'll make you something to eat, then."

Once she left the room, the appliances turned back on. "She seems to be trustworthy," Beta observed.

"WE ARE INCAPABLE OF PREDICTING IF SHE WOULD TREAT US AS WELL AS SHE TREATS THE RALTS, DUE TO THE FACT THAT HE IS A DIFERENT SPECIES OF POKEMON."

"You have a point there, Alpha. We should observe her from the safety of these appliances until we are certain that she can be trusted."

"How long will that be?" Jonathan asked.

"1 DuN n0."

"THE AMOUNT OF TIME NECCESARY WOULD BE FROM ONE DAY TO ABOUT ONE WEEK."

"We trust you shall assist in keeping us concealed until that time," Beta said, "Now, if you'll excuse us, we shall shut down for the night to restore energy."

"Goodnight, then," Jonathan said as he left for the kitchen.

"g00d n4it."

_How hard can it be to keep three digital pokemon that can hide in electronics?_ Jonathan thought. Gamma's radio then turned on at full blast, playing the news, "According to recent surveys, sixty percent of trainers prefer not to evolve their Pikachus. DeY R n00bs!!1!"

It probably was going to be a bit harder than he expected.


	23. Chapter 23: Insert Chapter Title Here

I am impressed with the amount of detail I put into this one. Maybe it's the fact that I'm getting to the point where I write the scenes I've been waiting a few months for.

On another note, I wish I had a Porygon, Porygon 2, and Porygon-Z. Some real ones, that is (I already have one of each in Pearl) among others.

Chapter 23: (Insert Chapter Title Here)

I didn't ask for anything that needed cooking to eat, all I wanted was some cereal. I successfully relayed the message to Jenny and got some. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the fact that I had no fingers… again.

Jenny noticed my trouble with holding spoons, so she fed me. It really made me feel like the little kid I was. The fact that she kept telling me to say 'ah' didn't help either. Neither did the bib.

After I was done eating, I gave a yawn and told Jenny I was going to sleep. I went to the poke ball, pushed the button, went to bed and then to sleep.

I would deal with the Porygons in the morning if they didn't blow their cover by then.

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I awoke suddenly as my apartment began to shake. It wasn't too violent, but it felt as if something was tackling the walls of my home.

I ran to the living room, where the shaking was the most violent. The shaking increased to the point that the walls were beginning to crack! Not only that, but a lot of the furniture was falling off whatever it was on top of. A bunch of books fell of the shelf, and the TV fell onto the floor and shattered.

I couldn't understand what was happening, wasn't the poke ball supposed to be a safe place for pokemon?

I stared as the wall as bits and bits of it fell off, further damaging the apartment. Finally, the shaking stopped. There was a long creaking noise, and then the entire wall fell. What I saw before me was a little overwhelming.

There was a huge mountainous range that extended as far as the eye could see. It was a little hard for me to believe that all of this was in just one little poke ball small enough to fit in a human's palm.

The mountain range was full of trees, each filled with berries as well. Deciding to go ahead and wander into the unknown, I left the safety of my apartment and wandered into the open field.

It wasn't too long before I found a cave dug into one of the cliffs. I wandered inside to take a look.

There seemed to be a small bed. It was smaller than a human's, but bigger than mine. Next to the bed was a small table with some items on it. I walked towards it to see what was on.

One of the items was a lamp. That made sense. But there was the fact that it had no bulb in the socket. Instead, it had a candle, which seemed strange to me.

The next item on the table was a picture. In it were me, Ember, Ziggy, and Rocky. I never remembered having a photo taken with all of us in it.

I picked up the last item on the table. It was a necklace. On the necklace was a piece of wood that had been heated to the temperature that made it perfect to be used for barbecues. In other words, charcoal.

I knew who the necklace belonged to.

"Hey, Jonathan!" yelled a voice as I was pounced upon from behind.

"Nice to meet you too, Ember," I said, underneath the Charmander, "Now, may I ask how we are in the same poke ball? Also, where did this mountain range com from?"

Ember blinked for a while in confusion. He then realized what was wrong, "Oh, you havn't been in a poke ball for long! Sorry, I should've told you before."

"Told me what?"

"When two poke balls are close to each other, the insides sorta mix together. It's to keep the pokemon from getting bored. Right now, we're in my poke ball!"

I looked around at the rocky landscape. "So what's with the mountains?" I asked.

"Most Charmanders feel at home in rocky mountains such as these. It's where Charmanders come from," Ember said, "When we evolve for the second time, we grow wings!"

"Whoa, really?" I didn't know much about his species, so that was actually a surprise to me. I couldn't imagine Ember with wings, let alone be as tall as a Charizard was supposed to be. Must be the same was a big brother sees his sibling as an infant, wondering how he or she may look like years from then. That was a little wierd, seeing as he had eight inches on me.

"Yeah, remember my dad's picture? He has wings already and can fly really high!" Ember explained, "You probably didn't see the wings. The photo wasn't big enough to catch them."

A thought came to my head, "Hey, Ember, I thought you said that poke balls had to be close together to gat mixed. Don't we live in different houses?"

"Mark came to visit Jennifer. He needed to get something back that he lent her."

"Oh, that's nice," I said. My mind ticked for a few seconds before I remembered about my three guests. "Oh, great, I forgot all about them!!"

"Forgot about who?"

"No time to talk, come with me!" I grabbed Ember's hands and dragged him to my poke ball. I then held my hand the moment we arrived since I accidentally scratched myself on one of his claws. Fortunately, the poke ball kicked in and healed it. The poke ball apparently worked on the apartment while I was gone, too.

"This is a funny poke ball," Ember said, looking at his surroundings, "It makes me feel as big as a human! Why's your poke ball like this, anyway?"

"Cause I like it this way, now c'mon!" I said, pushing Ember towards the exit. I opened the door and pushed him in, jumping in afterwards.

Ember materialized first, and fell immediately due to the push I gave him. His tail fell to his right, just where I materialized and landed upon. I suddenly caught fire from his tail's tip and ran screaming towards the nearest source of water. Imagine Jenny and Mark's surprise when a flaming Ralts ran past them and climbed onto the kitchen counter, jumping into the sink and practically dunking his whole body under the water.

I gave a sigh as the water cooled me down. After the shock wore off, dried myself off with nearby paper towels and walked back towards Ember.

"Does this happen often?" Mark asked.

"Surprisingly, yes," answered Jenny.

"Then you picked a good name for him after all," Mark replied.

Back on subject, I led Ember into the Bedroom with the computer, "You said you had guests, where are they?"

"That was an amusing display you put off there, Jonathan," said the voice from the computer.

Ember looked around the room, trying to find the source of the noise. His eyes eventually fell on the computer. "Cool! How'd you get the computer to learn your name!" asked an amazed Ember.

"It's not the computer" I explained, "Come on out, Beta. You too Alpha and Gamma."

The same process that was used for them to come out of the computer the first time occurred, and floating before us was Alpha and Beta.

"GAMMA, IT IS ACCEPTABLE FOR US TO EMERGE FROM OUR HIDEN LOCATIONS," Alpha told Gamma, who was still in the radio.

"bu7 1t'z nic3 & c0ssEE," Gamma protested.

"Fine then, stay there," Beta said.

"n0000000circle00!!!1!!. iT BUuUuUuUuUrNz!!1!" Gamma immediately flew out of the radio.

Ember was standing there gawking at the pokemon. They had just sprung out of electronic appliances, after all. "So what exactly am I supposed to do to help you guys? You weren't very clear on how long you would be staying," I remarked.

"DO NOT FEAR, WE SHALL LEAVE WHEN THE TIME IS APPROPRIATE," Alpha said.

"We just need to wait until our former trainer has left the area," Beta concluded, "On a side note, I have made significant advancements to your computer. I cleared it of all viruses, as well as updated many of its obsolete programs."

"I AS WELL HAVE FIXED A FEW PROBLEMS ON YOUR TELEVISION SET. IT SHOULD NOW SHOW PROGRAMS AT MAXIMUM CLARITY, NO MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER CONDITION IS," Alpha said.

The radio behind Gamma sparked and gave a small explosion before smoke began to come out of the machine. "1 Fickz 1t!!1!" Gamma exclaimed.

"Yeah… sure you did," I said. I then walked towards the radio, after climbing the wardrobe it was on, hoping I could see if I could figure out what was wrong with it. I pushed the power button to see if it still worked. Once I did, I heard the clearest sound come out of it that I have ever heard come out of a radio. Apparently, Gamma had actually done a good job with it. He also left it at max volume.

One big BOOM later and I found myself flying through the air. I landed next to the bed. I got up slowly. I decided to ignore the pain. "Thanks, Gamma."

"Ur w3lcUm."

Ember was still a little confused at what was going on, "What are they, Jonathan?"

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After a bit of introductions, and an explanation as well, Ember was filled in on the details. "So you three are running away from your trainers?" he asked.

"AFFIRMAIVE," Alpha answered.

"We are hiding in this apartment until he hopefully leaves town, but I fear that it may be a long time from now," Beta said.

"Why do you think that?" I asked.

"WE FEEL THAT IT IS BEST TO KEEP THIS INFORMATION CLASSIFIED," Alpha said.

"Leik t3h g0vrMinT," Gamma concluded.

We heard steps coming towards the room. Immediately, each Porygon jumped into their makeshift home. Mark then entered the room, "Hey, Ember, I'm going home now, I got what Jennifer borrowed from me. You're welcome to stay for a bit if you like." Ember nodded his head, "Alright, see ya in a while, then."

"We believe we shall remain in these computers for a while, in case anyone else arrives," Beta said after he left.

"Suit yourselves. Just don't crash anything," I told them.

Smoke then began to pour out from Gamma's radio.


	24. Chapter 24: Coffee is Good

Pardon me for not updating in a while. I wasn't able to type up this chapter until I was finished with a report I had to turn in. Now that it's done, I'll continue with the story.

Chapter 24: Coffee is Good

"So what'd he do to the radio?" Jonathan asked.

"THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE," Alpha explained, "GAMMA'S PROGRAMING WAS SO ADVANCED AND COMPLEX THAT THE RADIO WAS INCAPABLE OF PROCESSING ALL OF THE DATA THAT WAS BEING INSERTED."

"From the looks of things, it would've taken about three fourths of a supercomputer to successfully process the data," Beta concluded.

"0oOps s0rr3."

"Don't worry, Jonathan, the repairs on the radio are done now. Oh Gamma, remember that radios can't run programs to serve coffee, get the newspaper, and turn into giant mechas of mass destruction (using fruitcake of all things as ammo)."

"fRu1tC4k3 Iz 1ndiztrUc7iBl3!!!!1!"

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Meanwhile outside, a yellow figure was running in the direction of Jenny's apartment as fast as he could. A random trainer who was passing by caught a glimpse of him earlier and was giving chase. No matter how many bushes he darted through, he couldn't shake the trainer.

He jumped behind a nearby trash can and watched as the trainer ran by. Rocky slowly poked his head out and looked to both sides, releasing his breath when he saw the street was empty.

Then a poke ball flew over his head.

Without bothering to look back, he ran off in all fours in the opposite direction. He could hear the trainer's steps as he ran after him, getting further away by the second. Rocky was still in the range of poke balls, though. He turned and ran into an alley, but unfortunately for him, it was a dead-end.

Beginning to panic, Rocky looked around for anyone to help him. Seeing no one, his heart sank. Just as the trainer was about to round the corner, he gave out a cry for help, despite the fact that it was futile. "Help mee!!!"

His cry for help attracted the attention of an old man. "Hello there, little Pichu," he said. Before Rocky could react to the sudden appearance of an old human in the middle of a dead-end alleyway, the old man scooped him up. He was about to struggle to try and escape when he felt something soft wrap around his neck.

The trainer rounded the corner and spotted Rocky. He was about to throw another poke ball, when he noticed that the Pichu was in the arms of an old man, and with a black scarf wrapped around his neck. "That wouldn't be your Pichu, would it, sir?"

"Yes, this is my Pichu, young man," the old man lied, "If you were trying to catch him, then I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Oh sorry, I didn't know it had a trainer."

"It's alright, I should keep him in his poke ball more often anyways."

Once the trainer left, the old man put Rocky down, "Run along now, little Pichu. You can keep the scarf, I've no need for it," he said as he left.

"Thank you, mister," Rocky called at the old man.

"No need to say thank you, I wouldn't understand it anyways."

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"GET SOME WATER, GET SOME WATER!!!!" Ember yelled out.

Gamma floated into the room at max speed and poured the gasoline on Jonathan. "AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Jonathan yelled as the fire got worse. Beta then floated in and blasted Jonathan with the fire extinguisher, as well as everywhere the fire had spread too. Luckily, nothing was burned too badly, so it was easily covered up. "I thought you said nothing was wrong with the radio anymore," Jonathan remarked.

"NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH IT. YOU JUST EXPERIENCED WHAT IS KNOWN AS SPONTANIOUS COMBUSTION," Alpha explained. A tapping came from the window, so Jonathan went to answer it, preferring not to ask what the chances of spontaneous combustion were.

When he opened the window, he was pounced upon by a yellow blur, "Et tu, Rocky?" Jonathan remarked.

"Well, it looked fun when Ember did it," Rocky explained, "Hey, why are you covered in soot?"

"I got set on fire twice in one day. Not a very pleasant experience, trust me."

"Where'd you get that scarf, Rocky?" Ember asked.

Jonathan then noticed the scarf he was wearing. It wasn't human sized, so his ability to move wasn't hampered by extra length, but it wasn't too small either. It was as if the scarf had been designed just for him. "An old man gave it to me," Rocky said, "I was being chased by a trainer and he helped me escape hi-what are those things floating in the air?" he asked.

After another set of introductions everyone got to know everyone. "Being an artificially created pokemon, I'm curious as to what the wild may be like. May I ask you a series of questions regarding the matter?" Beta asked.

"What's artifisheal mean?"

"Perhaps it is best to ask an older pokemon," Beta concluded.

"THE HUMAN IS APPROACHING," Alpha announced. As expected, the pokemon flew back into their appliances.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys it's ok to trust her?" Jonathan asked.

"423947482358234137126578634780ty TwO," answered Gamma.

"Relax, Jonathan. We'll reach a conclusion eventually," Beta answered.

Jennifer entered the room, "Hello Jonny, you too Ember. The Pineco Café needs a little help with some stuff. Something about their new coffee attracting more customers that expected. Mark gave me permission to take Ember along, so he can come too."

"Why are you covering your eyes with your paws, Jonathan?" Ember asked as Jennifer changed into her uniform.

"Private reasons," Jonathan replied. Rocky squinted his eyes to try to see through Jonathan's hair.

"You have eyes?"

"Of course I do. What did you think I had underneath my hair?" Rocky squinted even further.

"Are you really covering your eyes?"

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After giving Alpha and Beta a list of what not to let Gamma do while they were gone, they left. As they were walking, Jenny asked, "So Jonny is this Pichu a friend of yours?" Jonathan nodded his head in response. "I wonder who his trainer is," she asked herself.

"Hey, Rocky, that scarf practically guarantees that trainers'll stop trying to catch you," Jonathan observed.

"Yeah, when people see your scarf, they'll assume a trainer gave it to you," Ember said.

"Wow, really? I didn't think it would be so useful!" Rocky remarked.

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Whoever called Jennifer to tell her the new coffee was bringing in more people didn't feel like it was needed to tell her that there were actual lines waiting outside the café to try it out stretching throughthe whole sidewalk. That must've been some good coffee.

All the employees were working their bodies to the limit just to fulfill all the orders that were coming in. Deciding to help, the pokemon tried to take orders too.

Jonathan walked up to a family who were sitting in a table, waiting to order. In his left hand, he held a small notepad, and in his right, he held a pencil that was close to being used up, so it was small enough for him to hold. He figured it shouldn't be too hard to take someone's order.

He tugged on the man's pants to get his attention. The man looked down, bewildered. It was certain he wasn't expecting a Ralts to come to him. "You don't understand what I'm saying, so I'm going to ask without any etiquette. Wadda ya want?" Jonathan asked.

"Hey, look honey!" the man said to his wife, "A pokemon!"

"Aww it looks so adorable holding that little pencil like that!" exclaimed the wife.

"(Sigh) You're going to make a big deal out of this, aren't you?"

"Ooooh, I've just got to take a picture!" exclaimed the wife, obviously a tourist. Probably came to see the wide range of terrain around the city.

"Mommy," the little boy that was with them began to cry out, "I want my sandwich, when is the waitress gonna come to take our orders?!"

Jonathan began to write the word 'sandwich' in his notepad. The husband took notice and pointed it out to his wife, "Look, honey! The pokemon knows how to write!"

"My god, you're right! Do you think it's taking our orders?"

"If so, then all I want is that new coffee," said the husband.

Jonathan nodded his head and kept writing. Once all the orders were filled out, he walked to Jennifer and tugged her sock. Once Jennifer noticed him, she knelt down to see what he wanted. He handed her the notepad, "Oh, I didn't know you knew how to write, Jonny!" As she read over the list, Jonathan's horns could feel the amazement Jennifer was feeling as she read the list. She turned to the counter and gave the order to the person in charge of making the food.

Once she got the food, she thanked Jonathan and proceeded to deliver it to the table. Unfortunately, other people wanted their orders filled out as well, "Excuse me, sir. Sorry, please wait a while. No, we don't serve alcohol." She didn't even have enough time to deliver the order Jonathan had gdelivered to her.

Deciding to take action again, Jonathan got Jennifer's attention with another sock tug. When she looked down, she saw that Jonathan was holding his arms up to hold the tray. "Gimme the tray, it'll probably be easier for you if I helped," he said.

Understanding what he meant, she put the tray of food in his hands. "Thank you, Jonny," she said as she went to assist other customers.

Balancing the tray on his horns and keeping it steady with his hands, Jonathan took the food to the awaiting family.

"Would ya look at that!" the husband said, "The little guy does work here!"

Once he put the tray on the table he left to help out with more orders. As he left, he heard the wife say, "Poor little thing must be tired from doing all this work. Leave a little extra for him, honey."

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It had been a long day, but closing time had finally come. Jonathan, Ember, and Rocky were exhausted. While Jonathan was filling out orders, Ember and Rocky were busy helping out with other things as well.

The stove had failed, so they were having trouble cooking the hot meals. That's where Ember came in. As for Rocky, he learned about the wonders of janitorial duties. They had all made a fair amount of money.

Jonathan, Ember, and Jennifer were walking back to the apartments, seeing as they forgot their poke balls at home. It was getting dark out, so Nutty came to pick up Rocky before they reached their home.

Rather than take the fire escape as usual, they entered through the front door like normal people. Before the door closed, however, Jonathan noticed that a man in a trench coat was outside, looking at the apartment complex.

Jonathan decided to think about it later.


	25. Chapter 25: Phone Call

Reason for a late update: Cave Story. I found it on the internet and now I can't stop playing. I already beat it twice. Damn addictions. I also feel bad that I didn't make this chapter longer.

Foxyjosh gave me the idea to call the currence in the pokemon world credits.I can't put a dash over the letter 'e' (microsoft word does it for me on its own) I can't call them pokes (suggested by Sanluris).

Chapter 25: Phone Call

In my hand I held 4000 credits (Equivalent to 40 U.S. dollars). I only served three tables. I'm not sure if that was a lot for a tip, but by the way Jenny was acting amazed, I'm pretty sure it was.

When we got home, I put the money in her purse while she wasn't looking so she could decide what to do with it. I doubt I would miss it, it would've probably exploded or something if I had kept it. "I'm going to go change now," Jenny said as she walked into her room.

"So did you make much money, Ember?" I asked.

"I don't know. I can't count money," he said.

"Let me see… about 1200. I made more than you did, but I guess it was because I was in a more public area and people gave me money."

"I'm tired from that work; does Jennifer do that all day?"

"It's not that bad usually. Today they had that new coffee, which was good enough to overcrowd it."

"I'm still tired, though."

"Me too. I've felt worse, though. Like that time I was chased by a pack of rabid Grandbulls, or that time I was chased by a bigger pack of rabid Grandbulls."

"When did that happen?"

"I don't remember, but here's a warning to you. Never pass by the junkyard on your way home from the butcher's shop."

"Aren't the Porygons hiding in the room Jennifer just went into?"

So that was what the nagging feeling I had in the back of my mind telling me I was forgetting something was. "Woops. Do you think Jenny's found them yet?"

"You're not worried a lot about this, are you?"

"Well, I know Jenny's trustworthy, so I'm sure they'll come to trust her soon. Problem is, if they're discovered before they come to their decision, then they'll stop trusting me," I explained. "That'll make me feel like a bad guy." I then got up to go check if they were discovered or not.

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Apparently, they haven't.

The Porygons must've hidden when they heard Jenny coming, which would explain why Jenny changing clothes remained uneventful. Of course, I assumed they were hidden in the appliances.

I was proven wrong when I heard the door creak behind me. I turned around to see it open a crack.

"Jonathan, make sure that your trainer doesn't open this door," Beta whispered.

"What are you doing hiding in the closet?" Ember asked.

"Gamma heard your trainer arriving and shoved us in here before we could explain that it would be easier to hide in computers," Beta explained, "Try to get her to leave the room so we can dart back into our temporary hiding places. It's incredibly difficult to keep Alpha and Gamma quiet, seeing as Alpha has no volume control and Gamma outright refuses to use it."

"Why don't you just come out and reveal yourselves to Jenny?" I asked.

"WE HAVE YET TO-" the sound of Beta struggling to keep Alpha quiet were heard.

"We're almost done analyzing her trust. The results are positive, so far," Beta said, "We may reveal ourselves tomorrow."

"How can you analize trust?" I asked.

"Jonny, is there something you want from the closet?" Jenny asked. Perhaps I should've been quieter.

"N-no no! There's no need for you to enter the closet!" I exclaimed.

"Are you hiding something from me?" I should've calmed myself down before speaking as I usually do.

"Err… um… Ember! Do a break-dance!!!" I exclaimed, needing a distraction.

"Sir, yes sir!" he began to break-dance, doing some moves that would be impossible for a human without a tail. I can't describe what he was doing, but let me tell you that he was good.

While Jenny was distracted and amazed at the same time, I ran into the kitchen where she left her purse. She left it on top of the table, so I had to climb the chairs next to it so I could reach.

Once I was up, I searched in her bag and found what I was looking for. I jumped off the table, slipped on a spoon, fell on my face, got back up, and ran back into the bedroom.

I almost got distracted as Ember attempted a head spin, but I managed to stay on focus. I reached the closet and threw what I got in there. Not a moment to soon, either, as Jenny finally remembered the closet.

She walked to it and opened the door. Inside, she found something she didn't expect.

"What's my cell phone doing here?" she asked. I gave a sigh of relief; those Porygons really were capable of entering anything electronic. Jenny decided not to think about how the cell phone she was sure she left in her purse got into the closet and picked it up.

Just as she put the phone into her pocket, she heard the house phone in the kitchen ring. We all walked there to see who it was. "Hello?" she said, "Yes, my refrigerator's running. No, it's not 'Then you'd better go match it,' it's, 'So you'd better go catch it.' … Did you just call me a n00b? How did you just pronounce that, it sounds like you're speaking in numbers! Who are you anyway? ... He hung up."

Well, Gamma's enjoying his new home.

The moment Jenny put the phone back into the receiver, it rang again. "Hello?" she asked, a little annoyed, "Yes, this is Jennifer. Are you sure? Let me check." She walked towards her purse and searched around for it. After a bit of searching, she spoke back into the phone, "You're right, my driver's license is missing. Alright, I'll go get it." She hung up the phone and turned to me and Ember, "I forgot my driver's license at the café. You two have a knack for escaping through the fire escape when I'm not looking, so I'm taking you with me. It's also starting to get late, so I'm dropping Ember off at Marks on our way back."

"Hey, Ember, what do you think are the chances that this walk will be uneventful?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Just a feeling," I said. I couldn't help but worry, especially since the man in the trench coat wasn't giving off any good vibes. I never expected myself to use such a word, but it's the best word to describe it.

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"Why are you so worried?" Ember asked, "Nothing happened at the café. Jennifer went in there, got her license, and you even got another one of those papers from that weird machine.

"I just can't shake this feeling that something's gonna happen. I think the fact that I'm a psychic type should account for my worry. And besides, none of the pictures matched on the ticket."

"Fine, let's be on the lookout on the way home, then," Ember said, not knowing how to counteract that knowledge. While I didn't say it out loud, I found it strange that Jenny had forgotten her driver's license at the café. She doesn't own a car, so she hardly takes it out. Also, there was the fact that a license isn't the kind of thing to simply fall out of a girl's purse when it's always kept at the bottom covered by a lot of stuff..

I was stopped from over-thinking the matter further by a suddenly strong burst of negative emotions that filled my horns. I actually flinched outwardly, which Ember noticed. "What happened, Jonathan?"

I felt a little pain in my horns. Nothing too big, it just felt like a vaccination needle was imbedded into it, easily ignorable. I searched around for the source of the emotions and my gaze fell onto a dark alley. Ominous.

"Ember, I'm not sure, but I believe we should stay as far away from that alleyway as possible."

Ember gulped, hearing the seriousness of my voice. Jenny stopped too, since she was good at reading a tone of voice. "What's wrong, Jonny?" she asked.

I grabbed hold of her pants and pulled away from the alley, hopefully unto a safer route. She followed, as did Ember. Maybe whatever it was that was in there I hope it didn't notice us.

Unfortunately for me, the world doesn't like to do as I please. I heard a voice whisper a command, follower by some sparks lighting the dark alley. The sparks were definitely coming from a pokemon, one I hadn't seen before.

And there, standing next to the pokemon, was a man wearing a trench coat.


	26. Chapter 26: Battle

I like that formal style of writing. It's hard for me not to use it for every character.

Another chapter with over 2000 words. In one day. Amazing. I'm tired. Must... take... break.

Chapter 26: Battle

A _bolt_ of _thunder_ shot from the alley. Jonathan just managed to dodge the attack by jumping to the side. Even though he was taking his time regaining his balance, he took a glance at the pokemon that fired at him.

It looked like a large ball of fluff that wanted to cause as much wanton destruction as possible. It had a pig-like snout, and metal braces on its wrists and ankles. The fact that its muscles looked capable of tearing through five phonebooks at once didn't help calm down Jonathan's ever rising sense of panic.

Jonathan, Jennifer, and Ember turned in the direction of the alley to see what it was that just did that. "Who's there?" Jennifer asked.

Out of the shadows stepped out Mr. Trench Coat. "Such a shame, I was hoping to take out the psychic before it could do any damage to my fighter," he said, "Then again, it looks awfully weak. Must still be a child."

"Who are you?" Jennifer asked.

"Now why would I tell you that? I wouldn't want you to call the police and have me arrested," he responded, "Now, be a good girl and hand them over."

"Hand what over?"

"Is it really necessary to answer that question when they're right there with you?" he asked, "I'm talking about the pokemon."

You could see Jennifer's eyes widen, "I'm not letting you take Jonny or Ember!"

If you could see through the shadows caused by the hat he was wearing, you could see Mr. Trench Coat smirking at the misunderstanding. "It seems as if you believe me to be just another pokemon thief," he said. He reached into his coat and pulled out some sort of gizmo that looked like a scanner of some sort. He pointed it at Jennifer and it began to beep furiously. "Ah, so they are with you. Just so you know, I'm not interested in the Ralts or the Charmander. Rather, I'm searching for the pokemon that have escaped my grasp. I am quite certain that they are hiding with you."

Jonathan and Ember knew who they were talking about.

"Now, please hand them over before I lose my patience with you, girl. I don't want to have gone through all the trouble of pick pocketing your license for no reason," he said.

_HA! I wasn't overthinking it!_ Jonathan thought.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but if you're really a pokemon thief, then I wouldn't let you have them anyways!" she said.

While Jonathan was sure he would've said the same thing, he couldn't help but worry over the fact that there was a lot of anger and urge to kill in the air. At first, he thought it was coming from Mr. Trench Coat, but upon further inspection the emotion was actually coming from the pokemon next to him. It made him wonder what made it so mad.

"Ember, brace yourself," he warned, "I feel like that pokemon could go off at any second."

"So do I, and I'm not even psychic."

Mr. Trench Coat gave a frown. "It seems to me that you are unwilling to cooperate. Oh well, my Primeape here has been wanting to smash something in for a while now. Primeape, go ahead," he said before he disappeared back into the alley.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the pig-monkey thing rushed straight at Ember, its shadow trailing behind him. "GWAAAAAAH!!!!" the Primeape screamed as its attack impacted.

Ember was sent flying back a few feet, landing in some nearby grass. The Primeape glared at Jonathan in a menacing manner. Jonathan grabbed a nearby stick and put it in a defensive position. The Primeape gave another yell as it brought his fist into the ground, shattering the concrete. Jonathan looked back at his stick.

"… This sucks," Jonathan said as the Primeape _karate_ _chopped_ him in the gut, sending him flying back a few feet. He landed on the grass next to Ember, safely away from his burning tail.

Ember got back up steadily and shot some _embers_ at the attacker. They didn't even make it flinch.

The Primeape gave another roar and was about to charge when it was interrupted. Jennifer had found a stick that was a good deal larger that the one Jonathan had picked up. It was more a branch, actually. Swinging it at full speed, she managed to knock it off its feet.

This did not make it happy.

The Primeape got back up and _chopped_ Jennifer as well. Since she was bigger, she wasn't flung backwards, but she did stagger back in pain. She fell to the ground clutching her gut as the Primeape got back up and glared at her with intense anger. She looked up as it raised its fist, ready to strike a blow that would not be easy to recover from. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the impact.

It never came. She opened her eyes and saw what appeared to be a duck made out of building blocks _protecting_ her. "WE HAVE ARRIVED TO A CONCLUSION. YOUR TRAINER IS INDEED TRUSTWORTHY."

As Alpha held the Primeape off, Beta snuck around and unleashed a _psy_chic _beam_ that knocked it off of Alpha. "If your trainer is willing to put her life at risk to protect her pokemon, then she would probably do the same for us."

The Primeape, angrier than ever, got up to face its two new attackers. "H4loo, P1Ggee!!1!" said Gamma. The Primeape turned around to face him, but got shot at point blank range by a _hyper_ _beam_.

But in what was an amazing feat of strength, the Primeape stood its ground and held it off. Gamma began blinking, "**ADAPTING**…" said an electronic voice that came from Gamma. "POWER OUT PUT AT 200 PERCENT," Gamma's attack suddenly doubled in strength and pushed the enraged Primeape yards away from its location. It staggered a bit, but still refused to fall down.

Gamma fell to the ground, seeing as the attack took a lot out of him. The Primeape regained its balance, a little shaken, but still capable of fighting. "GWAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" it screamed. It pulled its fists back to prepare for an attack. Alpha noticed this and yelled towards Beta and Gamma.

"THE ENEMY IS PREPARING AN UNKNOWN ATTACK. TAKE THE HUMAN AND THE POKEMON TO A SAFER LOCATION, I HAVE THOUGHT OF AN EXCELLENT STRATEGY." Beta and Gamma (who could still move), trusting their 'brother', got Jennifer, Jonathan, and Ember out of the way. The Primeape lunged forward and attacked Alpha with a _cross chop_, but before it hit they could hear a voice coming from him. "**TRACING**…" the attack hit Alpha, causing a large amount of damage to him. There were a few dents on him as if he were a sheet of metal, signaling the critical damage that was inflicted upon him. "**ANGER POINT** ACHIVED. POWERING ATTACK TO MAXIMUM LEVEL."

A glow surrounded Alpha as the damage he received _recovered_. Afterwards, he charged at full power towards the enraged Primeape, ramming into it with a _giga impact_.

The attack must've taken a lot out of Alpha too, for he fell in the same manner Gamma had collapsed. As the weakened Primeape was struggling to get up, Beta took Alpha to rest next to Gamma, Jonathan, Ember, and Jennifer. "I am the only one left capable of fighting the Primeape. I'll make sure to faint it."

"GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!" The Primeape screamed at the top of its lungs. It had reached its **anger point**, meaning a single attack would be enough to tear Beta to pieces and still have enough for the rest of its enemies.

It raised its fist and brought it down to the ground, causing a huge earthquake. Beta dodged the attack by using _magnetic_ powers to _rise_, and afterwards, another voice came from Beta. "**DOWNLOADING**… DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. SUBJECT HAS LOWER SPECIAL DEFENCE. POWERING UP SPECIAL ATTACK."

"A slight shock should be enough to bring you down," Beta said before he _discharged_ electricity.

He Primeape finally fell after that attack, twitching from the shock as it lay on the ground. "N0 Fe1r. U diDn'7 g3t h3rt!!1!" Gamma complained.

"Yes, well, it was an incredibly powerful opponent. It's at a huge level, and we would not have been able to beat it if we had fought individually."

Jonathan gave a sigh of relief. If it weren't for those Porygons, then who knows what would've happened to them. "What are they, Jonny?" Jennifer asked, pointing towards the porygons. Jonathan decided to try and explain later.

A clapping sound was heard, "Very good, Porygons. I knew it was worth the effort to track you down," said Mr. Trench Coat, who had just returned. The three Porygons backed away from him, "Now be good boys and return to your poke balls." He held out three poke balls, aiming one at Alpha. A red beam shot out and headed straight for him, but it was interrupted by a rock that had knocked the poke ball out of Mr. Trench Coat's hand.

"I'm not letting you get your hands on these pokemon! Now get out of here before I call the police!" Jennifer warned.

Mr. Trench Coat had a frown on his face. "I see you're still going to resist handing them over. Oh well, it's your fault for letting down your guard. Primeape!"

They turned around to find the Primeape still standing. "What is that thing made out of!?!" exclaimed Ember. It pulled back its fist and gave the air a powerful punch. The punch's power created a miniature storm which drew the shadows surrounding them into it.

The storm knocked down the Porygons at once before heading towards Jonathan and Ember. They ducked behind a tree just in time, but the storm still kept going forward. It launched past the tree and headed towards its last target.

"Jenny!!!" Jonathan watched as the storm headed towards his best friend. From behind the tree, he was helpless to stop it. Jennifer tried to run away from the attack, but tripped. There was no way she was going to be able to dodge the attack.

Jonathan watched as his childhood friend was about to be torn to shreds by the attack. _What can I do!?!_ He thought, _I-I've got to help her somehow!!!_ Jonathan looked for any way he could help her, but couldn't find any. Running out from his safe position of the tree, he attempted to reach Jennifer before the storm could. The storm was moving faster than him, though. His urge to save her grew incredibly strong. If only he were right there with her right now, he could do something!

Ember was surprised when Jonathan suddenly _vanished_. And Jennifer was even more surprised when he _appeared_ in front of her out of thin air. The one most surprised, however, was Jonathan when he distorted the space around the storm and the Primeape.

The distortion canceled out the storm, as well as cause significant damage to the monkey-pig. The Primeape stood with a _confused_ expression, punching thin air until it knocked itself out with a punch to the face. _D...did I just do that?_ A red beam hit the Primeape and it disappeared into the poke ball Mr. Trench Coat held.

"My, that is one powerful Ralts. I changed my mind, I want it now." He held out a poke ball that looked different from normal ones. For one, it was purple and had a yellow insignia on it.

He threw it at Jonathan, but it never made it to him. The ball was fried and fell to the ground mid-arc. Ember stood between Mr. Trench Coat and Jonathan, growling and letting smoke escape from his nostrils.

Mr. Trench Coat stepped back. His only pokemon was fainted, and the small Charmander could fry him, "Fine then, I'll come back for the Porygons later," he said and ran back into the alley.

"IT SEEMS THAT WE ARE NO LONGER SAFE HIDING OUT AT YOUR APARTMENT, JONATHAN," Alpha said.

"We'll leave tomorrow, but for today, we'll rest at your place. And your trainer will probably have questions to ask," Beta said, motioning towards Jennifer, who was confused about the whole thing.

"0h, D0n'7 uz3 ur T04zT3r! 1t bR0kin!" Gamma concluded.

"Yeah, I want nothing more than to forget about this surprising experience, rabid Grandbulls beat this any day," jonathan said. "Wait, what about the toaster?"

And so they headed off for home. As they were walking, Jonathan looked at the fried poke ball Mr. Trench Coat had thrown at him.

The ball was purple, with a yellow letter 'O' on it.


	27. Chapter 27: Farewell

In response to Sean's question, yes, I have tried Bulbapedia, but I personally prefer Serebii.

Chapter 27: Farewell

"C'mon banana… peel, dammit!" I said as I stared down a stationary banana lying on the counter.

"Oh, I think I saw it move!" Ember exclaimed.

"No, that was when I slammed what I assumed to be my fist on the table."

"Are you sure? You didn't use much force."

"JONATHAN USED ENOUGH FORCE TO MOVE THE BANANA FOR ONLY A FRACTION OF A SECOND."

"Could you be quiet, please?! I'm trying to concentrate."

"gUOyuHvyVufJibHKiYGcYcgY."

"Shhhhh, Gamma. Jonathan is trying to use his powers," Ember whispered.

When we arrived home, Jenny immediately went to the phone to call the police. She couldn't explain what Mr. Trench Coat looked like, but the police agreed to keep a look out for any suspicious people. Afterwards, she called Mark and told him that she had to head straight home due to an incident, so he had to pick Ember up.

At the moment, she was the computer questioning Beta on the events that just transpired.

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Beta456: Unfortunately, our trainer has found us, so we'll be forced to relocate to another area.

Hickory4: That's too bad, I hardly knew you. So do you know where you'll be staying?

Beta456: I successfully located an abandoned laboratory. It is full of electronic equipment, so it should keep us content, as well as throw off our trainer's radar.

Hickory4: That's good.

Beta456: By the way, how did you first meet your Ralts?

Hickory4: Why do you ask?

Beta456: No reason.

Hickory4: If you must know, I met him on the street.

Beta, from inside the computer, noticed that a pained expression was on Jenny's face. I was able to slightly sense the sadness from the living room. I would've gone to see what was wrong with her, but I was on fire for the third time that day.

Beta456: there is an expression of sadness on your face. There is more to your story, isn't there?

Deciding not to bother hiding it, Jenny typed the rest of the story.

Hickory4: I met him the same day my best friend died.

Beta456: I see. I am sorry for asking. So, what was your friend's name?

Hickory4: His name was Jonathan. I named the Ralts after him due to how similar they are.

Hickory4: I mean were.

A tear escaped Jenny's eye. I could feel it.

Beta456: You have yet to get over it, I see. We'll stop this conversation then. May you call Alpha and Gamma here please?

Hickory4: Sure.

Beta456: By the way, I enjoy the way you type. No numbers in your words or anything! You get sick of it when someone close to you speaks it nonstop in your language.

Jenny got up and went to get the other Porygons.

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"What happened?!" Jenny exclaimed when she entered the room and saw me covered in soot.

"The fire extinguished somehow set me on fire," I explained.

Jennifer didn't bother interpreting what was just said. "Beta said he wants Alpha and Gamma to meet him in the computer. It's time for them to say goodbye."

"4www, dAt sUx…" Gamma moaned, "1 leik t3h taLking Muzhr00m."

"INDEED, THE RALTS'S PRECENSE IS ENJOYABLE. IT ADDS HUMOR TO A DULL DAY."

A sudden rapid knock was heard at the door. "Hey, Jennifer, open up!" came Mark's enthusiastic voice.

As soon as Jenny opened the door, Mark came running in. For a guy using crutches, he was fast. "(Gasp) There they are!" he said, marveling the Porygons in front of them.

"Um, Mark, when I said to pick up Ember, I meant for you to come tomorrow," Jenny said.

"Yeah, but when you said that you had a complete set of Porygons at your apartment I just had to come!" Mark explained, "I may not get a chance like this again! Do you know how rare these pokemon are?!"

"N-no."

"Man, why do the rarer pokemon always appear to people who don't know much about them?" Mark whined. Beta then floated into the room. "Oh my god there's another one!" Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out a red rectangular thing.

"What's that thing?" Jenny asked. I would've asked too if I could.

"This is a pokedex!" Mark proudly explained, "It records data on pokemon! One of a Pokemon trainer's goals is to fill it up with as much pokemon as you can. Very rarely does someone fill the whole thing up! Here, let me show you." He pointed the pokedex at me and Ember. The thing opened up and spoke.

"TWO POKEMON DETECTED.

POKEMON NUMBER 4: CHARMANDER.

POKEMON NUMBER 280: RALTS.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RETRIEVE INFORMATION YES/NO?"

Mark pushed no. "See?" he asked, "Now let's try it on those Porygons!" He pointed it at the Porygons and it opened up.

"FOUR POKEMON DETECTED." Huh? I though, as did everyone else in the room.

"POKEMON NUMBER 474: PORYGON-Z.

POKEMON NUMBER 233: PORYGON 2.

POKEMON NUMBER 137: PORYGON.

POKEMON NUM-"

"Gamma, stop it!" Beta exclaimed. Gamma immediately flew into the pokedex, causing sparks and smoke to escape it. He then left the pokedex.

"Mizz30n (omp**1337**!"

"What did you do to my pokedex?!" Mark exclaimed.

"I don't think they would like to be recorded. They're trying to keep their location a secret," Jennifer explained. "Besides, Beta said that most things Gamma breaks get fixed on their own after a while."

"He still erased all the recorded data I had…"

"You'll get it back, you didn't have much anyways. Now, let the pokemon say good-bye." Jenny and Mark sat back to try and understand what the pokemon were about to say.

"I find it funny that you're afraid of being scanned by the pokedex," I said, voicing my curiosity.

"WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE BEHIND NO TRACE OF US HAVING BEEN TO THIS LOCATION. DELETING THE DATA OF THE POCKET MONSTER ENCYCLOPEDIA WAS A NECESSARY PRECAUTION TO ENSURE OUR SECRECY."

"1 PWN'D t3h pOkEd3ckz!!1!"

"That makes sense," I said.

"So, you three are leaving now?"

"Yes," Beta said, "We are certain that our former trainer shall use his radar to track our positions. Should we stay here, he would most likely return with more that just a single pokemon. Leaving would be our best option."

"But won't your trainer track you down again?" Ember asked.

"Don't worry, I've found the location of an abandoned laboratory on Crater Mountain just outside of the city. It is full of computers that are capable of containing more information than the appliances around this apartment, so we should have more space to hide our data from him," Beta explained.

"WE SHOULD LEAVE NOW. WE HAVE STAYED HERE FOR A SUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF TIME. ANY LONGER, AND WE MAY RISK ALERTING OUR EX-TRAINER OF OUR PRESENCE."

"Has time really flown that fast?" Beta wondered, "Oh well, nothing we can do about that. Let's go then."

"b-EYE j0N4thAn & 3m8er!1!!" Gamma said as he flew into the computer.

"FAREWELL, RALTS AND CHARMANDER," Alpha said as he flew after Gamma.

"See you later, then," Beta said, then he too flew into the computer.

"Do you think they'll come back eventually?" Ember asked.

"I couldn't sense their feelings to see if Beta was being sincere when he said 'see you later,' but I'm sure he was telling the truth." Besides, I had a few questions for them next time we would meet. Most of them concerning the poke ball with the yellow 'O'.

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Meanwhile, in the internet where I couldn't hear them….

"That was an excellent cover, Alpha. Truthful too."

"COMING TO A CONCLUSION AS TO WHAT EXCUSE I HAD TO USE WHEN HE MENTIONED GAMMA DELETING THE DATA ON THE POKEDEX WAS SIMPLE."

"Yes well, it wouldn't've been good if they had heard the fourth option the pokedex was going to announce. It would've been hard to explain that!"

"R Wii d33r y37??"

"Not to worry, Gamma, we should be there in a few more milliseconds. Once there, we should begin working on you. Hopefully we shall be able to restore you to your former state of mind."

"0h g00de!1!"

"ON ANOTHER NOTE, DID YOU AQUIRE ANY INFORMATION FROM YOUR CONVERSATION WITH THE RALTS'S TRAINER?"

"Yes, in fact. As it turnes our, the Ralts appeared before her shortly after her friend had died. You do realize what that means, correct?"

"AFFERMATIVE. WE SHALL KEEP WATCH ON THE RALTS, JUST IN CASE."

"w4t3Rm3L0NZ r Gr33n oUtzid3 N' r3d N-s1de!"

"Yes they are, Gamma."

"DESTINATION ACHIVED, WE HAVE ARRIVED TO OUR DESTINATION. TIME UNTILL SOLUTION FOR PROBLEM LOCATED: UNKNOWN."

"Well we won't get anything done if we just float around. Let's get started."

Just as the Porygons were exiting the computers at the abandoned laboratory, Ember was asking me, "Do you think they'll come back eventually?"


	28. Chapter 28: Not Every Chapter Needs a Ra

And now back to the one-shots. Not a lot of funny in this chapter, it's more to add personality to characters who haven't had that many lines.

Chapter 28: Not Every Chapters Need a Ralts

Howler gave a yawn as he waited for his friends to arrive. They were to meet at the park like they usually did, but they seemed to be late. Leaf was most likely there already, for she was known to enjoy being stealthy. Powder, it'd probably take him a while to arrive.

"I know you're there, Leaf. Come out already," Howler called. There was a small thump behind him and he turned around to see the Oddish.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked, dumbfounded, "I did everything to hide myself!"

"I actually didn't know you were here. I've been saying that sentence for the past fifteen minutes, knowing you would show up eventually."

"Sneaky puppy, I won't fall for that trick again!" she announced.

_Then you'll fall for another one_, Howler thought. "So is Powder with you?"

"No, do you think he can be stealthy? But I'm sure he'll be here eventually," Leaf responded, "Speak of the devil, here he comes now!"

Powder walked up to his friends, trying to keep something on his back from falling off. "Hello," he said.

"It's about time you got here! Why are you late this time?!" Howler asked.

"Sorry, Howler. Leaf asked me to get something for her," Powder responded.

"Oh, you got it?!?" Leaf asked, her eyes lighting up in eagerness.

"Um, it's strapped to my back. It's not that easy to miss." Leaf tackled Powder to the ground and undid the ropes that tied her package to Powder.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!" she repeatedly said, holding the graphic novel in her leaves.

"You're welcome. It wasn't too hard taking it from my trainer's bookstore." Powder said to his wild friends as he got up.

"I don't see what you like about those books, Leaf. They're stories about humans! Why not find one about pokemon?" Howler asked.

"Because pokemon in those stories are not ninjas!" Leaf explained.

"Who cares, they're humans either way! I bet I could beat them up!" Howler boasted.

"You ran away from a Ralts with no attacks," Powder pointed out.

"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT! He got me by surprise, that's all…"

"So what are we going to do today?" Leaf asked, hoping to change the situation into something more enjoyable.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Hide and Seek?"

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Powder was the slowest in answering 'not it,' so he was currently searching for Howler and Leaf. _Now where would I hide if I were them_, he thought.

_Howler is smart enough to know how to camouflage his dark fur against the shadows, and Leaf probably buried herself to look like a weed_. Powder looked around his surroundings carefully for signs of hiding. Then he thought of a simpler approach.

He closed his eyes and sniffed the air, eventually making out a _sweet scent_. He followed it until he found a lone weed next to a tree. _There you are_.

Powder approached the weed to tag it, but before he could, he triggered a trap beneath his feet. A rope suddenly tied his legs together and flung him into the air upside-down. Up upon the branch the rope was connected to he saw Leaf with a smug grin, "I can't believe you fell for that!" she laughed.

"Let me down Leaf!" Powder yelled.

"Yeah, right, like I'd do that. If I do, then you'll tag me! I'm gonna go hide again." She jumped down from the tree, stumbling a little as she landed, and began to leave. Powder, however, was a step ahead.

He _swiped_ at the rope, though not entirely. The _false_ attack cut the rope partway through, and gravity did the rest.

"Hey, Leaf!" Powder called. Leaf looked up to see Powder falling onto her, "You're it!!"

WHAM! Powder quickly got off of Leaf and ran off to hide somewhere before she could get up. "I should've added a second trap beneath the first one…" Leaf muttered to herself.

She got up and thought about where the best place to find Howler would be. Knowing him, he would attempt to hide in the shadows with his black fur. She noticed a rock formation that formed a miniature cave big enough for Howler to fit into, but small enough to completely hide whatever went in there.

Certain he was hiding in there, she ruffled her leaves and sent in some _spores_ she was sure would _stun_ him; otherwise he would run away at the first whiff of her. After a few seconds, she was sure there was enough spores in there to knock out a Donphan. She ran inside to tag Howler while he was down.

She ran straight into a dead end, however. Just as she was about to leave disappointed, she heard giggling from behind her. Turning around, she saw nothing but a rock. Perhaps Howler was hiding behind it? But then again, Howler wasn't the kind of guy that giggled.

She peeked behind the rock, but saw nothing. Suddenly, someone yelled, "BOO!!" Leaf, surprised at the sudden exclamation, fell on her back and struggled to keep her heart from racing. The rock began to laugh hysterically.

As the rock laughed, it turned pink. It then gained a face and taffy like body, "Hahahaha! That was funny!!" the Ditto laughed, "Oh, and nice try with the stun spore, but I'm too **limber** to be affected by that!"

Leaf looked at the Ditto, awestricken, "Whoa, did you just transform?! Can you teach me how to do that?!"

"Sorry, blueberry, you have to be born with it!" Taffy said, "Now lo and behold as I _transform_ once more!"

Taffy began to glow as his body began to change shape. He became more circular, grew leaves on his head, and grew legs as well. Once the glowing faded, before Leaf stood a mirror image of her.

"Hmm, I've got no arms in this form, but I didn't have any in my original!" said Taffy as she examined her new body. "At least I have legs now!"

She then ran out of the cave, knocking down Leaf in the process, "You cannot catch me!" Taffy chanted as she ran away.

"We'll see about that," Leaf muttered, taking on the challenge.

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"Get outta here!!" Howler shouted as he scared away a couple of Hoppips from the location he had chosen to hide in. Tall grass may not be the most original place for a wild pokemon to hide in, but he was betting Powder or Leaf would try to find him in the shadows he usually hid in.

"BANZAIIIIIII!!!!!" yelled a voice as it flew behind him. He turned around in time to be buried into the ground by an Oddish.

"(Cough) (Hack) What're you thinking tackling me like that!!!" Howler yelled.

"'Cuz it was fun," she responded.

"No, I mean what happened to all that ninja stuff you usually try to pull off?! I was expecting you to try to sneak up on me, but instead you jump into the air screaming at the top of your lungs!! Did you hit your head or some-" He didn't get to finish that question, for she suddenly darted to the side in time to dodge a tiny needle that shot past where she was standing a few seconds ago.

It hit Howler, who was in the projectile's path. Some of his energy then flew out of him and _absorbed_ into a second Oddish who had tried to sneak up behind the first. "Whoops, sorry Howler. I was trying to hit my imposter," Leaf said.

"You'd better be sorry!! I'm gonna have to get you for that!!" Howler exclaimed. A few seconds later, he was tackled by the Leaf impersonator who was yelling 'banzaii' again. "GET OFF!!!"

Just then, Powder, who was watching the series of events unfold from a nearby hiding place, walked into the scene, "I take it the game's over now?" He looked between the two Oddishes. He at first thought that the new Oddish was just a random one that had wandered in, but at a closer distance he noticed that the Oddish looked exactly like Leaf. "What's going on?"

"I am facing down an imposter who is posing as me. Bet you've never had a doppelganger!" she bragged.

"So he's impersonating you, then?" Powder mumbled. He walked up to the imposter and asked, "Are you a Ditto?"

"Yup!" responded Taffy.

"Um… what's a Ditto?" Leaf asked.

"Who cares! The thing attacked me from behind and absorbed my energy! She must pay!" Howler yelled.

"That was Leaf that did that, remember?" Powder commented, "As for your question, Leaf, Dittos are one of the only pokemon confirmed to exist that are capable of transforming. Of course, there are exceptions, such as-"

"HUGS!!!" Taffy yelled before Powder could complete his sentence. She then wrapped her leaves around Powder, causing him to turn from a brownish green to red.

Leaf's face was also red at the sight, "Quit doing things in my form!!"

Howler's mood changed from one of anger to pure laughter, "HAHAHAHAHA!!"

"S-shut up!" Leaf yelled back at Howler. She then turned back towards Powder to find the Ditto missing. Powder was still in a state of shock, so he didn't know where she went.

She then spotted Taffy standing a few yards away. "You can't catch me!" she taunted. Angered, she ran at full speed towards the imposter. However, when she stepped into a strange looking patch of grass, her foot began to burn due to _acid_ that was hidden. On reflex, she jumped, stumbled, and fell face first into a pile of dirt.

The sight was funny to behold to the Ditto, and she was holding back a laugh. It didn't last long, and she ended up clutching her sides in laughter. As she did this, her color changed back to pink and her form changed into a blob. She was a Ditto once again.

"That… was… hilarious!!" she said between breaths. "Well, that was a good laugh for the day! See ya later!" she then transformed into a paper airplane and flew off.

"Get back here you pink blob!!!" Leaf yelled, throwing her _razor_ sharp _leaves_ as the Ditto flew away. All the leaves were dodged and the plane escaped safely, much to Leaf's dismay.

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The day was getting dark, so the three friends were saying goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow," Powder said, still recovering a bit from the shock. He then left for his trainer's bookstore.

"Yeah, see ya later," Howler called.

"Bye, Powder," Leaf then turned to leave, "I'll see ya too, Howler. I've got to clean myself so it doesn't look like I got into a fight, as well as hide the book Powder gave me. Reading this isn't 'proper,' after all."

"Why would your parents worry about you being proper?" Howler asked in curiosity.

"Uh… you know, over-protective parents and stuff!" Leaf quickly replied, "W-well, bye!" Leaf ran off.

_Meh, might as well go back home myself_, Howler thought as he headed in the direction of the Arc Empire.

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Meanwhile, out in the forest, two blue figures wandered around.

"Art thou sure this be the place where thy parents said they tracked the Spearow?"

"I'm not sure, they said they couldn't follow it. It disasapeared around this area."

"My lady, I fear for thy safety. May we return back home and rest? We are perfectly capable of continuing the search in a fortnight or less."

"(Sigh) All right..."


	29. Chapter 29: Play Time

I was originally going to make Gamma the only Porygon that floated, mostly due to what it said in the pokedex, but decided not to due to the fact that Porygons and Porygon 2s float in almost all the media I've seen them in (such as Pokemon Stadium and the anime).

Chapter 29: Play Time

I punched Ember right in the face and made him fly quite far away. Unfortunately, while I was distracted with Ember, Rocky head butted me from behind. I turned around and kicked him making him fly away too, but by that time Ember had gotten back up and torched me before I had a chance to react.

Luckily, Ziggy attacked him while he wasn't paying attention, so I thanked her by punching her as well. Rocky tried to sneak up behind me, but he still didn't understand that I could see his every move. Just as he was about to hit me over the head with a bat, I jumped over him, grabbed him, and threw him against the wall.

When he got up, he sent a bolt of thunder in my direction. I jumped and it hit Ziggy instead. Ember jumped back into the fray trying to shoot fire at all of us. His limited range only hit Ziggy and Rocky, so I was safe.

Scheming, I grabbed a bomb that was nearby and threw it at the three of them. Ember's fire detonated it, causing an explosion that threw the three of them sky high. They flew into the background where they disappeared into little stars.

"From where did you obtain the explosive, Private?!" Ember asked, in military mode from the battle in the game.

"Ember, do you even know what a private is?" I asked.

Ember thought about it for a while, "No, not really. My dad just told me to call my friends privates when in battle. Now seriously, where'd you get the bomb?"

"I thought I told you that items pop out at random. Look, Rocky's got it down already."

"I'm getting bored with this game. It's hard for me to use the control and Jonathan keeps winning," Rocky complained.

"Fine, let's do something else then."

"How about we go outside? I'm getting bored of being cooped up in this room!" Ziggy suggested.

"Hey, Jonathan, how about we go to that arcade thing you were talking about a few days ago?" _Wow, I had completely forgotten about that_. "This time we won't have to worry about a random trainer trying to catch us."

"Just in case, let's convince Mark to come with us this time."

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Pen and paper makes relaying messages to those who speak a different language, but read the same letters, a lot easier. It's hard when you don't have fingers, though. _How can I pick up stick to battle, but not pens, spoons, nor bananas?_ I thought as I walked. Fate must hate me.

The reason Mark was taking us to the arcade and not Jenny was the fact that Jenny was at work. Jenny would've taken us with her, but looking after four pokemon is a little bit harder than looking after three. Looking after no pokemon was ten times easier, of course.

Mark had agreed to keep watch over us as she worked. He thought of it as extra training whiles his broken leg healed, mentioning something about having to look after six at once. I was grateful that he agreed to help, seeing as it was easy to keep up to someone with crutches.

Everyone seemed to be looking forward to the trip; I could feel it in my horns. Ember was impatient, having missed the opportunity to go before. Rocky wanted to learn something new, like he always did. Ziggy was just happy to get out of the house and into fresh air. Mark, he was eager too. He probably hadn't gone in a while due to his leg. I hadn't gone in a while either due to my current condition.

"So it's going to be like the games we were playing back at Mark's house, but bigger?" Rocky asked.

"You could put it that way," I answered, "Our time at play is going to be limited, though."

"Why?"

"We need quarters to play, and when Mark runs out we're gonna have to go home," Ember explained.

"How many quarters did he bring?"

"I think he brought enough for us too," Ziggy answered, "We were the ones to suggest going to the arcade, after all."

A car sped by and splashed me with water from a nearby puddle. The water caused me to flinch and take a few steps backwards. I bumped into Rocky, who had his back turned to me. Startled, he released a bit of his electricity, and due to the fact that I was wet, the damage meant for Rocky went for me. "Whoops," Rocky said.

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It was a good thing Mark always brought a spare potion with him everywhere he went, otherwise we would've had to go back home…. I think he was expecting something to happen to me (and so did Ember, and so did Ziggy, and so did Rocky… well, I'm not sure about Rocky).

Anyways, we made it to the arcade without more events to speak of. As expected, there were a lot of kids there playing already, as were some teenagers and a few adults. You could tell a couple of them were trainers by the poke balls they wore on their belts. A few of them had their pokemon out with them, some capable of playing games as well.

After looking around a bit, I found my favorite game. If you don't remember, it's one of those shooters with the plastic guns. And for once, there was no line!

I ran straight for it before anyone else got to it before me.

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"Jonathan, how long have you've been trying to reach the gun at the top of that game?" Rocky asked.

"Five minutes. It sucks to be a foot tall."

"Can I try going up there?"

"Sure, go ahead," at that moment, Rocky jumped onto my head, then jumped again to reach the top. A little warning wouldn't've hurt. "C'mon, Jonathan! It's easy!"

"For you it may be. You jump from branch to branch every day, while I just climb them. I'm not all that good at jumping, just so you know."

Rocky sat down to think for a moment. He looked to his side at the plastic gun connected to the game by a thick cord. "I've got an idea!" he said. He threw the gun to the floor. I saw where he was going with this and climbed the plastic gun's cord.

"Thanks Rocky," I said when I got up. I undid the bow on my bowtie and a few quarters dropped from the unraveled neckwear. I then retied my bowtie and gave a quarter to Rocky. "Wanna play?"

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At first, it was hard to hold onto the gun. The moment I tried to grab it I realized it was not going to be easy. After a while, I managed to wrap my arm around it and used my left arm to pull the trigger (think 'cute'). It was tricky, but it worked.

Rocky mimicked what I was doing, but it was harder for him due to his shorter height (that's cute too). He did well, though, and managed to hit some of his targets.

We managed to get pretty far, but I was sure we would need more practice before we would be able to beat the whole game.

"GAME OVER, TRY AGAIN." _Maybe later, you money-eating machine_.

"So what do we play now?" Rocky asked.

"Let's go see if Ember or Ziggy can think of anything," I suggested.

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We found Ember on a fighting game, playing as some army guy. Ziggy had just finished some game. I wasn't there to see what she was playing, so I didn't know what she played.

We discussed what kind of game we should play next. Most games here were for only one or two players, so we were pondering for a while. After a bit of discussing, I came up with a solution. I suggested we play a game designed for one person at a time, but if used right, we could play it at once.

I took them to the game and made them stand in specific locations. Ziggy was on the right, Rocky on the left, Ember at back, and me up front. I took four more quarters from my bowtie and placed them in the game. After a bit of arguing, we decided to take turns picking.

Ember picked first, and we found ourselves jumping up and down to hip-hop.

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The sun was setting and the arcade was closing. Even though Mark was limited to playing games that didn't involve physical movements, he was satisfied with what he played. Me and the other pokemon, however, were not limited, and worked up quite a sweat.

"We almost got a perfect!" Ember groaned.

"We would've, if that kid hadn't let go of the basketball in mid swing," I said. "I'm sure I would've gotten it right if it hadn't gone straight for me."

"That was funny!" Rocky stated, "You looked funny trying to get up in time to keep up!" Ember and Ziggy snickered at the memory of me scrambling to my feet.

Basketballs are a lot more painful when you're less than two feet tall.


	30. Chapter 30: Booth Lady is Mean

Writer's block is EVIL!!!

In other news, I finally got over 10,000 hits! Now I'm going for 100,000.

Have a Merry Whatever it is you celebrate.

Chapter 30: Booth Lady is Mean

"-so be sure to tune in three days from now for this city's twelfth annual Pokemon Contest!" the TV announcer concluded.

Sitting on the couch across from the television set were a five year old boy and a ten year old girl. On the boy's lap lay a Zigzagoon, eagerly staring at the screen. The boy too had a look of wonder on his face. "Wow, did you see that hyper beam used in the commercial?!" Sam asked.

"I'm sitting here with you, how could I not see?" Claire responded.

"You could've been looking at the ceiling," Sam said. "So, what do you think about the Pokemon Contest?"

"Me? I don't really care much for it. It looks like just a way to show off your pokemon."

"Aren't you going to show off your pokemon when you become a trainer?"

"Trainers show off their pokemon through battle. I doubt any other battler would care how much my pokemon's attack sparkles."

Sam decided to take this opportunity to ask his sister a question, "Clair, what starter pokemon will you take with you on your journey?"

Clair thought about it for a good while before answering. "I don't know."

Sam's jaw dropped, "You don't know yet?! But you're almost a trainer!"

"Is it my fault that our city is smack dab in the middle of four other regions that our city alone gets the privilege of choosing from twelve starters?" she responded. "It's really hard to choose." Another commercial for the contest appeared on screen, "Don't they advertise this enough?"

"You were thinking about your answer for fifteen minutes. This is another set of commercials." Sam looked down at Ziggy as she shifted her position to get more comfortable. He noticed how her face was brightening up at the commercial. "What is it, girl? Do you wanna enter the contest?"

"Zig!" she responded cheerfully.

"Hey, Claire, Ziggy wants to enter the contest!" Sam said.

"What makes you think she really wants to? Maybe she was just saying something else and you misunderstood."

A little frown appeared on the five year old's face, "What makes you think she doesn't?"

Clair gave a sigh, "Does it really matter? If you want to enter the contest, then go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

This made Sam happy, "Thanks Claire!"

"You don't have to thank me, just quit hugging me!"

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"BARF!!!"

Jonathan's head was hanging over the toilet bowl, his face as green as spinach. _There are sick, sick things on the internet_, he thought to himself as the banana he ate that morning exited from where it had entered. Once done, he headed back to the computed, turning it off in disgust.

Hearing a tapping on the window, he went to answer it. "Hey, Ziggy," Jonathan greeted.

"Hello, Jonathan," Ziggy responded as she got off Jonathan.

"I take it you've picked up some of Ember's traits, like Rocky?"

"Well, it's fun. You'd like it too if you could tackle yourself," Ziggy said. She then remembered why she was there to begin with, "Hey, Jonathan, I'm gonna be in a pokemon contest!"

Jonathan stood there for a while. "What's a pokemon contest?"

Ziggy gave Jonathan a 'have you been sleeping under a rock' look. "It's only the thing most talked about on the TV!" she exclaimed. "How could you not know about it?!"

"I know what it is," Jonathan said, "I just don't remember fully."

"Oh. Well, it's a contest between pokemon that determine which one best suits the category," Ziggy explained, remembering as much as she had learned on TV. "The contest itself has three parts. One is where you dress up, another is where you dance, and the last is where you show off your moves."

"Ah, now I remember," Jonathan said. As a human, he didn't go to many contests. They didn't interest him much. "Good luck with that."

A tapping at the window signaled that another of his friends had arrived. "I'll go get that," he said as he left for the window.

Upon opening it, he was surprised that he wasn't pounced on. His horns felt a feeling of self-restraint coming from Rocky who was in front of him. Jonathan guessed that he was restraining himself so as not to make himself look like an idiot in front of Nutty.

"Hiya, Jonathan!" Rocky said, "I brought Nutty along to help you train!"

"Train?" Ziggy asked.

"I heard it from Ember yesterday!" Rocky began. "He and Jonathan were being attacked by a Primeape, and just when it seemed like they were about to lose, Jonathan used his powers to drive it off!"

"Well, technically, the Porygons did most of the work," Jonathan pointed out.

"So how was it like?" Rocky asked, "When you teleported, did you go through some sort of tunnel of bright light, or did you just pop in front of Jennifer? Oh, and did you make the Primeape fly around with your psychic powers?"

"Young lord, you're overwhelming him with questions," Nutty interrupted. "If what your friend, Ember, said was true, then he's unable to use his powers at the moment. I doubt he remembers what it was like."

"Why wouldn't he remember?" Rocky asked.

"I learned somewhere that a Ralts's powers are amplified when its trainer or a loved one is in danger, which explains why he's unable to use them at the moment," Nutty finished.

"C'mon, Jonathan! I convinced Nutty to help you train with us in the woods!" Rocky exclaimed.

"Alright, I guess," Jonathan said, stepping out the window, "Jenny's alright with me going out without a trainer due to the fact that I always turn up alright."

"Oh!" Ziggy gasped, remembering something, "I've got to go with my buddy to sign up for the contest! They won't let Sam enter without a pokemon, so I've got to hurry and get to him before he leaves!" She jumped out the window and quickly climbed down the tree, heading in the direction of her home.

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Sam was waiting in front of his home. Not having found his Zigzagoon anywhere, he came to the realization that she had gone to play with her friends for a while.

"(Sigh) How long are we going to wait?" Claire asked.

"Just a little while longer, Ziggy should come back any moment now."

Hearing footprints coming from behind him, he turned around just as Ziggy jumped into his arms. "Zigzagoon!" she yelped in happiness at the thought of getting to be one of the pokemon that got to play in the contests.

"Finally!" Claire sighed, "Let's get going now!"

There was a small crowd of people formed in front of the contest hall. Some had their pokemon out in the open to show them off, but most had them safely stored in their poke balls.

Claire was having a tough time keeping track of Sam in the crowd, as he kept wandering to and fro trying to find as much pokemon as he could that he'd never seen before.

"Sam!" Claire called out, "the entry booth's over there!" she yelled, pointing towards a woman in a booth with a line in front.

Sam ran up to Claire, grabbed her hand, and dragged her to the line with him. "Mommy told you not to leave me alone," Sam said, thinking his sister had forgotten.

"I remember, there's no need to remind me," she told him.

They didn't have to wait very long until they got to the front of the line. It wasn't really that long, mostly due to the fact that most contestants had signed up days before the contest had begun.

"Hello, little girl," the woman said with a fake smile plastered on her face, "May you please sign your name and your pokemon's name here to enter the contest?"

"Don't call me a little girl!" Claire snapped, "I'm ten years old, that's old enough to go on a pokemon journey unattended!"

"I'm sorry, young girl. I didn't know you would be such a brat about it," she said, the fake smile still on.

"Did you just call me a brat?!"

"Yes I did, I've been stuck in this booth for eight hours for the past ten days, so I don't give a damn if you're offended or not. You may address all complaints to the phone number printed on the side of this booth, but I doubt they would do anything to solve your problems as they seem to do nothing but give a short one minute talking to to the person who caused the problem." The woman said, fake smile across her face.

Ignoring the intense feeling of punching her in the face, Claire got the slip of paper that needed to be signed and handed it to Sam. "Oh, I'm sorry, little girl, (angry glare) but the boy is too young to enter any pokemon contest."

"What?!" Sam exclaimed in disbelief.

"Zig?!" Ziggy exclaimed in disbelief.

"You're too young to enter pokemon contests," the woman repeated, smile on her face. "You have to be old enough to be a trainer in order to enter a contest."

"But Ziggy wants to enter the contest!" Sam protested.

"Sorry, if you have a problem, then you can complain to the number printed on-"

"Yeah, we know. The side of the booth," Claire interrupted. "C'mon, Sam, let's go home now."

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Ziggy laid on Sam's lap, her face gloomy. Sam was petting her in an attempt to cheer her up with one hand. His other was holding the sandwich Claire had bought him in an attempt to cheer him up.

"It's alright, Sam," Claire said, "One day, you'll be old enough to enter contests, and I'm sure you'll win lots of ribbons!"

"It's not that, Claire," Sam said, "I don't really want to enter the contests that much."

"Then why'd you drag me all the way to the contest hall if you didn't want to compete?"

Sam kept looking at Ziggy's face, which was close to crying, "Because Ziggy wanted to go."

"Oh," Claire muttered.

They went on eating for a few more minutes before they decided to leave. They went up to the counter to pay the bill before they left.

"Hello, I trust you had a good meal here at the Pineco Café?" said the brunette waitress behind the counter.

"Don't you usually take orders?" Claire asked.

"Our cashier was out sick today, so I'm filling in. Anyways, your meal will cost 5.99 plus tax."

As Claire handed her the money, the waitress looked over to Sam, "What's wrong, little boy?" she asked.

"I can't enter the pokemon contest because I'm too young," Sam answered, "I don't really care that I don't get to enter, I'm sad because my pokemon wanted to enter."

"So you don't care if you don't enter as long as you Zigzagoon does?"

"That's right."

"Then why don't you get your sister to enter instead?" the waitress suggested. Claire suddenly dropped the credits she was handing over in shock as Sam's face lit up like a lighthouse.

"That's a great idea, miss!" Sam exclaimed.

"M-me?! C-contest?!"

"Is something wrong?" the waitress asked.

"N-no, nothing's wrong, ma'am. We'll be leaving now."

"Wait, have this," she handed Claire a pink ribbon she had been wearing on her head to keep her hair from getting loose. "A pink ribbon may help you win the contest if you're entering in the cute category."

Claire took the ribbon, "Cute category?"

"It's one of the five categories. I think your Zigzagoon may be best for it," she explained, "Unlike someone I used to know, I watch them a lot."

"Th-thanks, I guess…." Claire then took Sam's hand that wasn't holding Ziggy and dragged him out of the café.

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"You'll really enter Ziggy?!" Sam asked in joy.

"N-no!" Claire yelped. Sam's smile left his face, "I'm sorry, but I don't like contests! I want to be a trainer, not a coordinator!"

Sam was about to cry, before someone's voice asked, "Did you say contest?"

Sam and Claire turned to see a girl about Claire's age. She was dressed in a way that suggested she listened to heavy metal. You know, with the spiked bands and the black fingernails. "So you're entering the contest too, huh?" she began.

"Um, actually-" the girl put up her hand in a 'be quiet' sort of manner.

"Please, don't start with that 'good luck, may the best coordinator win' nonsense. I get sick of hearing it from all the newbies," she said, "So what pokemon are you using?"

"She's using Ziggy!" Sam blurted out before Claire could say she wasn't entering.

The girl stared at Ziggy for a while before bursting out in laughter, "You can't seriously be planning on entering with a Zigzagoon that small? How old is it, three months?!"

"Shut up, girl," Clair snapped, stopping the girl's laughter, "I'm not even entering!"

"Good thing, too. You'd never stand a chance against me in a contest!"

"Like I would care. I plan on becoming a trainer, not a coordinator."

"Well, coordinators are trainers too, and I'm probably a much better one, since I do more than just battle."

"What do you mean 'better trainer?!" Claire asked, "I bet I could beat you in a battle!"

"You wanna bet?" the girl asked, taking a poke ball from her belt.

Claire suddenly felt very stupid, "Um… I don't have a pokemon yet…."

Now the girl really felt like laughing, "Hahaha, I knew I was better than you! Even if you had a pokemon, I'd beat you at both battles and contests!" The girl turned to leave, "My name's Ariel, by the way. Look for it on TV, I'm sure you'll find it listed as first place winner!" Claire breathed in deeply before turning to Sam.

"So you're sure she wants to enter a contest?" she asked.


	31. Chapter 31: Training

I believe I may have found the reason I'm not updating as much as I used too. It's very simple, actuelly.

I'm getting bored of typing this.

I'm going to stop writing Rotten Luck for a while. That doesn't mean I'll stop writing, though.

Once you've finished reading this chapter, click on my name on the top of this page if you want. I've got a new story!

Chapter 31: Training

Rodent Fields had a lot of clearings to train in. The clearing we were going to train in had a lot of rocks on the ground, as well as fallen trees. Waiting there for us were Lord Volt and a Pikachu.

"So are you ready to train, son?" asked the Pikachu, who had what looked like a small triangle like nick on the tail.

"Yes, Mommy," Rocky responded.

"Lord Volt, would it be alright if you trained your son on your own today?" Nutty asked, "He requested that I train a friend of his who has difficulty using his attacks."

"There's no problem with that, you may train him," Lord Volt answered.

"Nutty, is our son old enough to learn that attack yet?" asked the Pikachu.

"He's about two weeks old now, so yes, he's old enough," Nutty answered, "Do you plan to teach it to him, Lady Lema?"

"Yes. I fear he may encounter some trainers in the city. It may be best for him to have a trump card in case of that happening," she responded.

"Come, Rocky. It is best we train in a clearing that's more suitable for the training you're about to receive," Lord Volt said as he led his son elsewhere.

"See ya later, Jonathan," Rocky called as he left.

"So how exactly do you plan to train a psychic type when you know no psychic attacks?" I asked.

"I spent a long time trying to figure that out," said Nutty, "I figured since you used your powers when there was danger, I would try to recreate it."

"That doesn't sound pleasant."

"Relax, it's not going to be life threatening."

"So what are you going to be doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to be throwing rocks at you in hopes that you'll be able to stop them with your mind through instinct," he said as three rocks flew at me.

"That sounds logical," I said, rubbing the three bumps on my head.

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Since trying to stop rocks with my mind failed, Nutty decided to train my ability to teleport. "I don't like the fact that we're up in a tree," I said.

"Don't worry, I softened up the ground below in case you don't teleport."

"You mean when I don't teleport."

"That too."

Looking down below, it looked like we were several stories off the ground. I knew, of course, that it couldn't've been more than fifteen feet, but I was so short it looked like fifteen floors high.

"Say, Nutty, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you," I said in hopes of distracting him from the pain I was most likely to feel in a moment.

"What is it?"

"What's with your name?" I asked, not knowing what else to say, "It sounds like a trainer gave it to you."

"… I prefer not to talk about it," he said as I fell towards the ground.

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While I was training with Nutty, I was unaware of the fact that I was being spied upon by another pokemon, one that wanted to settle a score with me.

He was looking for the opportune moment where he could jump out of the bushes to challenge me to a fight, hoping the surprise would give him the advent- "Hiya, Brick! Wadda ya doing hiding in the bushes?"

"WAH!!" Brick yelled, somehow silently, "Taffy, be quiet! I'm planning to challenge that Ralts to a fight!"

"Oops, sorry," she whispered in embarrassment. Looking over towards the training area, she whispered, "I remember that bowtie! I think his friends called him Johnson."

"His name's Jonathan and he's the only psychic to ever defeat me," Brick said, "Did you become a girl, by any chance?"

"Teehee, you noticed," she replied. "So what happened that made him beat you?"

"Well, the problem was that we were so busy strengthening my special defense, my physical defense was weak. He surprised me when he fought without his mind. I spent the last few days training to correct that."

"He didn't fight you with his mind? What did he do, beat you with a stick?"

"…"

"… He did, didn't he?…Hahahahahaha!!"

"Shut up Taffy!!" Brick whispered.

"That's no way to talk to a lady," Taffy countered.

"It's not like you're going to stay that way!"

"I'm still a lady!"

"Whatever, I'm gonna challenge him to a fight now."

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"So it seems putting you in harm's way isn't how to bring out your psychic powers. I guess we'll have to try safer metho-" Nutty was interrupted when a Tyrogue jumped out of the bushes.

"Jonathan the Ralts, I challenge you to a battle!" Brick yelled, pointing at me in a dramatic pose.

"Who are you?" Nutty asked. "Wait a minute, aren't you that pokemon who was fighting our soldiers the other day?"

"They weren't worth my time; it took your lord to defeat me!" Brick bragged.

I noticed something in what Nutty had said, "Did you say soldiers?"

"Yes," Nutty answered, "Rodent Fields has an army to defend itself with in case of an emergency."

"And they need better training if they were beaten by me alone!" Brick bragged.

"Brick, you were attacking the new recruits," Taffy, who came out of the bushes, said. "Most of them were panicking and scattering like they've never seen battle before."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was looking for a four-leaved clover in the grass!"

"Is there something different about your voice, or is it just me?" I asked, remembering that the Ditto's voice was a bit deeper last time I met it.

In response, she threw a mud ball at me. I don't know why.

"Ahem!" Nutty coughed to get everyone's attention, "Jonathan, perhaps I'll put you in harm's way one more time _(Son of a-)_ in a battle against this pokemon. He may drive you to the point where you have to use your powers."

"Do I have too?"

Brick wouldn't let me back down, "Too late! Your master has decided to test your progress and so you shall!"

"But he's not my-"

"Very well, I'll be the judge of the battle," Nutty said.

"I'll help!" Taffy added.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked Nutty.

"Don't worry, Jonathan. The only attacks a Tyrogue knows is tackle, helping hand, and fake out," Nutty responded.

"Oh no," Taffy interrupted, "I taught him lots of attacks!"

"I see," Nutty remarked. "Jonathan, don't get hit. He's bound to get tired eventually."

"Oh, that'll be hard! I made sure his speed was top notch!" Taffy said.

"Hmmm, really…. Jonathan, you mentioned he had a weak defense. Hit him with all you've got."

"Brick's been training his defense ever since his defeat! He can withstand a full blown psybeam!"

"What kind of trainer are you?" Nutty asked.

"Fighting types are easier to train than psychics," she explained.

"… Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked again.

"Don't worry, it's not a fight to the death," Nutty reassured. "I'm right, right?" he asked Taffy.

"Yep."

"Can we start now?" Brick called from the other side of the clearing.

"Don't worry! We were just clearing some things up!" Taffy called back.

I decided to ask when we would start, "When do we start this-"

"BATTLE START!!!!!" Taffy announced.

Like a rocket, Brick launched from his side of the clearing. Before he got to me, he punched the ground with enough force to _slide_ the _rocks_ right out of the dirt. I ducked right, running away from the debris.

Brick ran after me in an attempt for a _tackle_. I ran to the nearest tree and climbed up it as fast as I could. Brick, his head down for a tackle, didn't see where he was going, thus he ran into a tree. He left quite a dent.

"You believe a mere head injury'll keep me down? Ha! You don't know me all that well!" he bragged.

_What is his head made out of?!_ I thought. I felt a sudden shake go through the tree. Looking down, I saw Brick using his immense _strength_ to lift the tree off its roots!

I jumped down before he could uproot the whole thing and ran like hell. I then made a mental note that Brick could outrun hell.

Before he caught up to me, I turned around and swung a branch I snapped off the tree at him. That didn't hurt him as much as it did during our last encounter, but the surprise did make him stumble and fall. _A stick isn't as reassuring as I thought it was once_, I thought, looking at my broken stick.

Brick got up quickly, "Did you seriously believe that a stick could bring me down! I've been training ever since our last encounter to raise my defense! Not even those rocks you're throwing at me as I speak work!" he bragged as the fourth rock made contact with his head.

I bent down to pick up a fifth rock, futile as it was, but when I got up Brick was right in front of me in a full speed tackle! Using all his strength, he _tackled_ me to the ground.

As I lay, feeling the pain from his attack, I wondered to myself, _Why doesn't this hurt much?_ Sure it hurt, but it was as if he wasn't even trying!

I saw him running towards me, prompting me to jump back up and dash again. Brick stopped in surprise. "How did you get up?! I hit you as hard as I could!"

"I can explain that!" Taffy announced, "By training his defense, he neglected his attack power, just like he did last time!"

"Why didn't you tell me I was neglecting one of my attributes again?!?"

"I did! Wait… no, sorry! I was looking at the grass!"

As much as the news of him being weaker was good, the attacks still hurt me. If we were to spend a long enough time in this battle, he would win. Not to mention the fact that he was so much faster than me.

Brick ran up to me again and threw his fist right at my face. I instinctively closed my eyes to brace for impact, but he surprised me by punching me in the gut instead.

"That attack is called _fake out_," Nutty said because I couldn't think of how to put the words fake and out in the same paragraph.

He used _fake out_ again, causing me to flinch for the second time. This time, however, I noticed something was going on with me. As I ran, I noticed that every time after he attacked, I ran just a bit faster. Soon I was fast enough to dodge his attacks!

"H-how are you getting faster?!" asked a confused Brick.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining!" I answered as I **traced** circles around him at a **steadfast** pace. Seriously, I had no idea how the hell I suddenly became faster than him!

"Never mind, try to dodge this!" he yelled. He then dug his hands into the dirt, and using his _strength_, he then lifted a huge boulder out. It didn't matter if he threw weakly or at full strength, that boulder would knock me out with its weight either way.

When he threw a boulder at me, I immediately face planted to dodge. The boulder flew over my head and landed behind me. Once I got up, Brick reached down and pulled out two more boulders, one in each hand!

He threw one and I dodged left. I dodged right for the second boulder, and noticed what an idiot I was for not thinking ahead. I had a boulder behind me, to my left, and to my right. In front of me was a Tyrogue holding a decent sized boulder, aiming it at a trapped Ralts.

I gulped as the boulder flew at me. If only I knew confusion! I thought as the flying piece of hurt flew at me. Suddenly, I noticed a flash of energy fly through the air from the woods. The attack connected with the boulder, shattering it into a thousand little pieces. If I remembered, that attack was a _confusion_ like the one I used on the Primeape.

I looked towards the source of the attack in time to spot a blue figure run into the woods. I would've run after it, but I'm sue Brick wouldn't approve of tha-

"Gotcha!!" Brick exclaimed as he tackled me to the ground. "Taffy, now!!"

Taffy stepped… crawled… let's just go with stepped. Taffy stepped up to where we were and slammed her blob of an arm on the ground next to us. "One…! Two…! Three!!! Brick wins!"

Brick jumped off of me and punched his fists into the air, "YES!!! I AM THE CAMPION AGAIN!!!" then the strangest thing happened to him.

His body began to glow with a bright white light. Looking past the light, I saw his fists grow to a size similar to a boxer's. His shoulders turned more pad like and his head began to change sha- "Nonononono! This isn't the one I want!" Brick yelled. His shape then returned to normal and the glowing faded. He was still a Tyrogue. Acting as if this was something he had experienced before, he called to Taffy, "Let us go, Taffy! On to the next challenge!"

"I'm hungry, can we get some food first?" she asked as she followed Brick.

Nutty walked up to me and helped me stand, "Glad to see the training worked!"

"No, it didn't. Some other pokemon used that confusion." I wonder who, though.

"(Sigh) So my training didn't work?"

"Sorry, but no."

"It's alright. You are the only psychic I've ever trained, after all."

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I told Rocky goodbye once he arrived. Once he said goodbye too, I left for home. Upon reaching it, I collapsed on my bed, exhausted. I heard a tapping on the window and got up to open it.

Ziggy noticed how tired I was, so she didn't pounce on me, "What happened to you?"

"Stuff happened that I'd rather not think about right now. So, what is it that you came here for?"

"Oh, right. Ahem… I'm going to be in a pokemon contest!!!"

"Really? Good for you! When's it going to start?"

"In three days! Look, I even got a ribbon!" she said, turning so I could see the pink ribbon that was tied around her neck.

"Wow, you've got a lot of preparing to do."

"Actually, that's one of the reasons I came here for. Could you, Ember, and Rocky help train me for the contest?"

"Yes, as long as you don't say train for a while."


	32. Chapter 32: Money

Ah, that was a nice break. Many things happened in the past month: went to some parties, read some good stories, made a new story, got a DeviantART account. But y'all probably don't care as long as you read the story. Here you go, sorry for the wait.

Chapter 32: Money

"Alright then, there's two days left 'till the contest. In that time, we have to somehow train you to be a competitor that won't lose in the first round," Jonathan stated.

"How are we going to do that?" Ember asked.

"Let's see…. There's a section where the trainer has to dress up the pokemon. We'll leave that to Claire," Jonathan said as he looked at a list on a notepad. He scratched out Dress up with his pencil which looked oversized in his hands.

"I didn't know you could write," Ziggy pointed out.

"I can do a lot of things. Now, after dress up comes dancing."

"How'll we do that?" asked Rocky.

"We can go back to the arcade and play that game we all played together. The dance system works almost the same way, only Ziggy'll have to do it alone. You think you can do that?"

"I'm a Zigzagoon. Darting from place to place is what we do best!" she answered.

"Good. Only problem is that we're going to need credits. Lots and lots of credits." Jonathan looked back to his list. "The last thing here is making your attacks look good."

"You mean I have to battle?" Ziggy asked with a hint of fright in her voice.

"No. There's no battling in Pokemon Contests here. You just show off your moves." Ziggy gave a visible sigh. "It's probably best that you train with Claire on this."

"So we need to go to the arcade first?" Rocky asked.

"No, we'll need to get credits first," Ember said, "So how'll we do that, Jonathan?"

Jonathan thought for a while, "... We could meet up with King Krow and ask for some credits from those shiny stealing birds, but it'd feel like we'd be wasting a wish."

"How about that job we did a few days ago?" Rocky asked.

"Jenny took the day off. She's decided to help Claire with her part in the contest, so we won't be able to work for the money," I answered.

"Then what the hell are we going to do?" Ember asked.

Jonathan choked on his own saliva for a while, "Ember, don't say that word!"

"Huh? Why not? You say it all the time!"

"You're too young t-" Jonathan then recalled the fact that Ember was technically older than he was. He didn't usually think much about the fact that he was technically a small child, and thus not allowed to curse. And since he already considered Ember, Rocky, and Ziggy as friends, he didn't think much about cursing in front of them.

"Umm… alright, go ahead and say it. But don't tell anyone I taught you that word!" _But then again, I doubt much pokemon would care if he said that. I hope it's just a human thing, seeing as it's their word. Did I just refer to humans as they?!_

"So where do we find the credits, Jonathan?" Rocky asked.

Jonathan sat down to think about it. It had been a few weeks since the accident that turned him into a pokemon, so all the things in his apartment had most likely been cleared out. Someone else must've been living there now, so his collection of pennies was probably gone. _Dammit, I should've paid a visit while I had a chance. I could've taken back some of my stuff!_

Getting back on track, Jonathan continued to try and think of a way to get credits. "I can't think of anything. How about you guys?"

"I can't think of any ideas, sorry," Ember said.

"Neither can I," Rocky replied.

"Nope, me neither," said Ziggy.

"Um, Ziggy, what's that you're holding?" Jonathan asked.

"Oh this? Just something I **picked up**," she answered showing Jonathan the yellowish sphere she was holding.

"Well wadda ya know, it's a nugget…," it took him a while to process this, "A NUGGET?!?!"

"What, is it dangerous?"

"How the hell did you find something that rare?! One nugget is valuable enough to get us five thousand credits!"

"Um, is that a lot?" Rocky asked.

"Enough so that you can practice fifty times!" They all stared at the yellow rock with newfound interest.

"What's so special about it?" Ember, Rocky, and Ziggy asked at once.

"What?"

"Why's it so special?" Rocky asked, "It looks like any ordinary rock to me. Except shiny yellow."

"Oh. Well, it's very rare. Humans use it to make stuff that shows how much money they have. Like necklaces and jewelry," Jonathan answered.

Ember held out his necklace, "Does that mean people see me as high class because I wear this?"

"No. Your necklace has charcoal. For it to be classified as jewelry, it's gotta be gold, silver, diamond, or any other rare metal."

"Ohhh. Say, aren't we wasting time? What if the arcade closes while we talk?" Ziggy pointed out.

"Relax, we have plenty of time," said the guy who had a panic attack when he was late for his first date. "It's early and the arcade ain't even open yet. Let's go cash in this nugget."

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All four of them stared upwards at the door handle that was out of their reach. "How are we supposed to open the door?" Rocky asked.

"I hadn't thought it out that far…."

Ember was jumping up and down trying to reach the handle. He could, but once caught he would be dangling from it unable to turn. "What are the chances that this would be an old turning knob instead of those newer ones that you just need to push down."

"Indeed. What are the chances." Jonathan sat down to think of a solution, then got back up because the answer was so juvenile. "It's simple, really. We just need to stand on each other's shoulders to reach it.

"Ember, you're the tallest, so you're at the bottom. I go second, then Rocky twists the doorknob. Afterwards, Ziggy holds the door open so we can all enter."

They all nodded then got into position. Ember stood in front of the door and waited for Jonathan to get on. "Jonathan… quit moving so much! I might drop you!"

"It's not my fault, I've got nothing to hold on to! Grab my legs so I don't fall off!"

"Alright," Ember said. He then reached up and held Jonathan's legs. Jonathan's legs were pants-like, so his skin folded in Ember's grasp. Of course, when ever one is trying to hold someone's pants to hold them steady, they tend to clutch tightly so as not to let go.

"YEOUCH!!" Jonathan exclaimed as Ember's claws dug into his skin.

"Sorry, Jonathan," Ember said before lightening his grip. It still hurt Jonathan, though.

"My turn!" said Rocky. He climbed on Ember, and then onto Jonathan's head. He too was having trouble standing, but instead of asking Jonathan to hold him, he held on tightly to Jonathan's hair.

"OWOWOWOW!!" Careful!"

"Whoops, sorry. Wow, your hair is thick."

"Yes, yes, that's true. Hey, here's an idea! How about you hold my horns instead of my freaking hair?!" Jonathan said in pain.

"Good idea!" Rocky said cheerfully before doing as told. Once his balance was secured, he reached for the handle to turn the knob. After he twisted it, he signaled Ziggy to push the door open.

As she pushed the door, Rocky forgot that he was supposed to let go. He was pulled forward along with the door. Of course, he had the toes on his feet clasped to Jonathan's hair for balance, so when Rocky went forwards so did he. "Whoa!" they both exclaimed.

On reflex, Jonathan grabbed the feet that were pulling his hair. On instinct, Rocky held on tight to the doorknob for fear of falling down, despite the fact that he was a few feet of the ground The door swung fully open and Jonathan felt himself be lifted off Ember. Gravity pulled him downwards, which caused pain to Rocky's ankles. Surprised by the sudden pain, he released some _thunder_ which _shocked_ both himself and Jonathan. Thus, they both let go and fell to the ground.

The store keeper noticed the ruckus and went to see what was going on. "Huh? How'd these pokemon get in here?" He looked at the Zigzagoon holding the door open, then at the fallen pokemon that were most likely part or a tower. "Hmm, smart pokemon. So what are you four doing here, anyways?"

Jonathan then stood up and faced the man, "Ahem, we came here because we found a nugget. We currently need the five thousand credits for something, so we came to sell it. Of course, you don't understand a single word I'm saying, so I'll just have to show you. Ziggy?

"Yes?"

"Show this man the nugget." Ziggy pulled out the nugget that was held in place by the pink ribbon she wore and showed it to the man.

"Oh! Where did you find that?" he asked. "No matter, I'll be taking it off your hands now."

Jonathan snatched the nugget away from Ziggy before the man could take it and rapidly shook his head, "Oh no, sir. We plan on getting money out of this!"

"Aww, ain't that cute, little Ralts. Now, give me the nugget please?"

Jonathan shook his head again, then pointed at the register. "Oh I see, you want some money! Alright, let me get you some, little guy!"

"Finally," Jonathan said. The man came back and showed Jonathan the money.

"If I give you this, can I have that nugget?" He asked ever so kindly.

"I'm not giving you this nugget for a freaking penny (Worth one credit)!!" Jonathan exclaimed. The man didn't understand his words, but the tone of voice was clear.

"Fine, fine, I'll get you some more." The man then came back with ten credits. Jonathan gave a clear of the throat that signaled 'no freaking way.'

This went on for about five minutes until Jonathan managed to sell the nugget for full price. "Thank you," Jonathan said then turned to leave a man who felt defeated and was thinking, _How the hell did that young pokemon know the real price of an object that rare?!_

As they were leaving the store, they stopped and looked up at the door. "Are we going to have to go through all that trouble again?" Rocky asked.

"Sadly, yes."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, how did you know how much that cost?" Rocky the curious Pichu asked curiously while full of curiosity.

"I found one when I was younger. I went to the same store to cash it in, but only got a few hundred credits out of it. I later learned that it cost thousands, but that storekeeper wouldn't give me any more money," Jonathan answered. "He's a nice man, but tends to swindle people out of as much money as he can. He's been that way for years."

"Um… years?" Ember asked.

"Uh, yeah. Jenny told me."

"Say, Jonathan, how old are you again?"

Jonathan stopped for a while, "Why do you ask that, Ember?"

"Just curious."

"Oh, well I'm… Ziggy, when was the first time we met?"

Ziggy thought about it for a while. "About six weeks."

"There ya go; it's been about six weeks since I hatched from an egg. Now let's go to the arcade!" Jonathan said. He didn't notice, but as they were walking towards the arcade, Ember was looking at him funny.

_Why didn't he say 'hatched from **my** egg?'_ Ember though.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, a blue figure's movements had attracted the attention of an old Persian. The Persian was peaceful, so the blue figure was able to question him without a problem.

"Have thou seen a Spearow take flight through this land? It may have been three fortnights since thou'th has seen it."

"Hmmm, yes I do believe I saw a Spearow fly through here that long ago."

"Doest thou'th knows what became of it?"

"It was killed by a child with a BB gun. Poor thing died in mid-flight and flew into a fuse box."

"Was it carrying any package?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, it did drop something when it fell. I don't remember what, though."

"That is enough, thou hast said quite enough. I thank you for the information. Farewell."

"Farewell to you too, young man."


	33. Chapter 33: Climbing Mt Shelf

It's been a while since I wrote. Feels good to continue this story.

Chapter 33: Climbing Mount Shelf

_What are the odds of that?_ Those were my thoughts as I saw a bunch of firemen try to put out the fire that had engulfed the arcade. Just when we were planning on using it, it caught fire. _Did I do something bad? Is this karma?_

Ember, Ziggy, Rocky and I thought we had a brilliant solution to train Ziggy for the upcoming contest which involved using the dancing game at the arcade. Our spirits were up as we approached our destination. Then, just as we were caught sight of the building, lightning struck a car that was parked next to the building.

Apparently it had enough fuel to cause an explosion, either that or someone with mob connections called a hit on the one who owned the car and had a bomb placed in his vehicle, which was prematurely detonated due to electricity. It was probably the latter, since the explosion was big enough to cause the explosion to launch the car ten feet into the air.

Anyways, the explosion hit the arcade too and caused it to catch fire. This was all a perfectly good explanation except for the fact that there was not a single cloud in the sky.

Where the hell does lightning come from in those conditions?

"Hey, guys!" Ember called as he approached us. He volunteered to go close to the burning arcade and ask any nearby pokemon what were the chances of the dancing machine surviving the fire. "I've got good news!"

"Good news?! Seriously?!" I said surprised. I hardly got to hear that phrase. 'Good news'. Sounds like candy.

"I found a Growlithe who worked with the firemen! He said that if the fire doesn't spread to the gas pipes, then almost all the arcade games are as good as saved!"

"Great! Good thing you found that… Growlithe? They have a Growlithe at the fire station?"

"Yes. Is that weird?" He answered. I pondered that thought for a while before deciding to drop the matter.

"So I'll be able to trade in the arcade?" Ziggy asked, while my horns picked up a feeling of anticipation.

"Seems that way," I responded, earning a big smile from the Zigzagoon.

"Um, Ember, What happens if the fire reaches the gas pipes?" Rocky asked. Suddenly, the arcade exploded, leaving not a single wall standing.

"… Something like that," Ember responded. The feelings in my horns instantly did a 180. While they had been gleeful and excited the last few seconds, they now felt gloomy and sad. I didn't have to think long about who was the cause of these emotions.

"W-What about m-my training?" Ziggy asked. Little drops of tears were already beginning to form at the corners of her eyes.

_Great, now what?_ I began to think of a way to train Ziggy that didn't involve the now absent arcade. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind. One involved drawing arrows on the sidewalk with chalk while we showed her flashcards with arrows on them, but we wouldn't be able to generate the rhythm from the games. Another idea was using the radio and teaching her to dance ourselves, but what do any of us know about dancing? Well, Ember knows a bit, but I doubt hip hop is an acceptable genre of music at pokemon contests.

Coming up with an idea was beginning to get harder, since Ziggy had now commenced to cry out loud. My horns didn't help either. But despite the circumstances, I managed to come up with an idea. "I've got it!" I said aloud.

"(Sob) W-Wha-What is (sniff) i-it?" Ziggy asked.

"Well, we can't use the crater that we used to call the arcade, that is evident."

"What's evident mean?" Rocky interrupted.

"It means 'that is clear.' Anyways, if we can't use the arcade, then we'll have to try training Ziggy elsewhere."

"Where else can we train her?" Ember asked.

"Glad you asked."

--

"I just don't know why I did that," said the store keeper to an employee he had working around his store, not noticing the door swinging open. "The little guy was holding a nugget. I could've just taken it from him. It's not like anyone would care if a pokemon lost a valuable item. Someone else would've probably stolen it from them if they hadn't reached my store."

"Well in the end, you still got the nugget," the employee said as we walked past them.

"Yes, but it was a pokemon! People catch these things for a living!" The store keeper said as we looked at a bunch of boxes that were on a shelf at the end of one of the aisles.

"Well, why didn't you try and catch it?" the employee said as I pointed at one of the boxes.

"The thought didn't cross my mind," the store keeper responded while we formed a tower to reach the box we were trying to get. "Besides, they all had something around their necks. They probably belonged to a trainer."

"Well, it's all in the past now. Why don't you imagine that they were humans?" the employee suggested as we got the box and walked towards them.

"(Sigh) That may help," the store keeper said as he absentmindedly took the box and 4999 credits we put on the counter.

"There you go! Now don't you feel better about the whole thing?" the employee said as the store keeper handed back the box and a single credit to me.

"Yes, I do feel better. I'm glad I talked to you about this," the store keeper said as we formed a tower to open the door.

"Not a problem boss," the employee said as we left. "I'll get back to work now."

--

"Well, that was uneventful," I said as I climbed through the window.

"Why didn't the store keeper try and take our money?" Rocky asked.

"He was probably distracted talking to his friend," Ember answered. He then reached out the window and pulled in the box we bought at the store. "How did you know about this thing?"

"I saw an ad for it on the internet. The game was popular enough for video game companies to make a home version," I answered.

"So I'll be able to do all my training here?" Ziggy asked.

"Yep. And it won't cost you a single credit."

"What about the money we used to buy this?"

"That doesn't count," I then turned to Ember, "Ember, could you use your claws to open the box?"

"Yes, sir!" He exclaimed, then tore the plastic off the casing, and shortly after ripped the front cover of the game's box off.

"Did the situation really call for you to rip the cover off the game's box?" I asked. His response was a shrug.

Dropping the matter, I turned back to the box. It was bigger than other normal boxes due to the fact that it had a mat stuffed in it as well. Since people's homes didn't come equipped with flashing arrows on the floor, the mat had to be used so one would be able to actually dance to the music. So after plugging in the mat, which is something you normally don't do with mats, and putting in the game, I turned on the power and sat down on the couch with Ember and Rocky to see Ziggy train.

Then the menu appeared.

I had forgotten that Mark had traded his old console long ago for one of the new ones that were recently released. Unlike the old consoles, where you just popped in the game and waited for it to load, this new console had a menu where a large variety of options were available, including internet connection.

Of course, in order to play the game we needed to choose it from the menu. And in order to choose it from the menu, we needed the control. There was no problem here, except for the fact that there was no wire connecting the control to the console, so it was easy to lose.

"Damnit, it couldn't've just been lying in plain view, could it?"

"Don't worry, Jonathan," Ember said, "Mark always puts the control back in the same place every time he's done playing."

"Really? That's good, where is it?"

"Up there," Ember was pointing at one of the shelves. It was well within the reach of any ten year old boy, since it was five feet off the ground, but even if there were four of me standing on top of each other I doubt I would be able to reach the bottom shelf.

"So how do you normally reach it?" I asked.

"Well, at times Mark forgets to put it back. I usually have full access to the games then. However, if you look at the edge of the shelf, you can see part of the control." I looked to where he pointed and saw the white, rectangular end of the remote shaped control. On the top shelf.

I sat down to think of a way to get up there. Looking around the room, I saw items such as a large pile of books, a stool, and a small, three foot high ladder. The stool was also three feet, and there were enough books to form two feet. It took my mind only a few seconds to think of a plan.

I had Ziggy push the stool next to the shelves while Ember took the ladder and placed it next to the stool. While they were doing that, Rocky and I brought the books, climber the ladder, and put them on the stool. The task took us a few minutes since there were a lot of books, but once done we had a tower tall enough to reach the bottom shelf.

"Alright, then," I muttered to myself as I climbed up the stack of books. Once on top of the books, I wobbled a bit before regaining my balance. I thought I was alright, but I felt the books fall from under my feet. I flailed my arms around to find something to hold and gave a sigh of relief when I grabbed on to the edge of the shelf. On retrospect, maybe I should've had one of the others, who are natural climbers, go instead of me.

_Should've sent Rocky or Ziggy,_ I though as I hung four feet off the ground. As pathetic as that sounds, it'd be too much of a bother to put the books back in place. _Oh well, I'm a good enough climber,_ I thought to myself as I pulled myself up.

"Hey, Jonathan, how'd you grab on to the edge without any fingers?" Rocky asked.

"I ask myself that question all the time," I answered as I reached for the second shelf. The top shelf was only three feet above the bottom shelf, so I only had to climb three shelves to get to the top. _Wait a minute_, I though to myself. _If the top shelf's three feet off the bottom shelf, and the bottom shelf is five feet off the ground, then the top shelf's eight feet off the ground. How the hell did a ten year old reach that high then?!_

Pushing that thought to the back of my mind, I pulled myself up to the second shelf then reached for the third. Unfortunately, once I began to pull myself up, a piece of paper that was lying on the spot I was grabbing myself onto slipped and caused me to have a heart attack as I flailed my arms again for something to hold onto. Thankfully, I caught the top shelf on time.

Panting heavily, mostly in fright, I pulled myself up onto the top shelf. I felt a great sense of accomplishment as I turned towards the item I climbed up to get. The white rectangle was lying just a foot from me, easily within reach. There was nothing stopping me from grabbing it. Unfortunately, there was a problem with it that would make it unusable in allowing us to play the game. I took hold of it and showed it to the rest down on the floor, and they immediately knew why.

"Ember, why the hell is there a stick of butter on the top shelf!?"

"A stick of butter? How should I know how it got up there?"

"I thought you said Mark always put the control on the shelf!"

"Hmmm… I did find it strange that it was on the top shelf. Mark can't normally reach there." I then noticed Rocky had his bead dug into the cushions between the sofa.

"What are you doing, Rocky?" I asked.

Rocky then pulled his head out of the sofa, "I was wondering what was in here. I found some credits and dirt. Also this white thing," he responded pulling out some credits, lint, and the control we were looking for. I gave a deep sigh and sat down.

"So does this mean I'll be able to train now?" Ziggy asked.

"I guess so," Ember answered. I then looked around and realized my current position.

"Um… how am I supposed to get down?"


	34. Chapter 34: Ominous Foreshadowing

Thomas is still as hard to write as he was before.

Chapter 34: Ominous Foreshadowing

The airplanes were making earsplitting noises as their jets fired into the sky. There was a lot of commotion going on as tourists were comming to see the sights. Summer was the best time to travel, after all.

Hundreds of planes lifted off and landed, most of them for the tourists. A few were private jets, owned by business owners, and the like. The only private jet on the runway that didn't belong to a rich guy was the one for the guy who won a trip to the Sevii Islands.

"That wasn't as annoying as I thought it'd be," said the contest winner, Thomas. Once he got off the jet, he ignored the people there to meet him, mostly people who were employees of the company which held the contest. He walked past them, ignoring their annoying congratulations and offers to join the company, and made his way out into the street into the urban, downtown area of the city.

Deciding not to spend much time there, he successfully called a tab and had the driver drive him to the less crowded area of the city.

--

It didn't take the driver long to reach the destination. Thomas paid his fare with the hundred credits he found lying on the ground and quickly left.

He walked a few blocks before reaching an alleyway he usually went to. Upon entering said alley, he was greeted by a bunch of people.

"Hey, Thomas! Welcome back!" one of them said.

"Someone punch him," Thomas responded. Another of his 'friends' did so. In truth, he didn't consider a single person in that group to be his friend, and as far as he was concerned, he didn't want any. "So, have you accomplished anything worth noting while I was gone?"

"Uh… we managed to get quite a bit of money. All the empty potion bottles were filled with water and sold to amateur trainers, just like you asked."

"I asked if you accomplished anything worth noting. Swindling ten year olds is not worth noting."

His cronies said nothing. Thomas gave a sigh, "You guys are worthless without me." He then turned to leave.

"Where are you going, Tommy?"

Thomas stopped in his tracks, turned around, and walked back to the guy who said that. Once in front of him, he sent his fist flying into the guy's face, hearing a satisfying crunch coming from his nose.

He turned and left, this time without anyone asking where he was going.

--

It was obvious that things were going slow for him now that the trip to the islands was over. Granted, it didn't last long to begin with, what with him leaving the islands after two weeks. It was nice and all, but the weather was too warm for him.

While it was cooler at his home, it was still somewhat warm, and that fact annoyed him. Still, He felt he needed to walk if he was to think of a good plan to earn himself a nice amount of credits, legal or otherwise.

The wind picked up and threw a piece of paper at his face, but he caught it before it could make contact. Looking into the paper, he saw that the annual pokemon contest was going to start tomorrow.

Looking at this paper gave him a plan. A plan that caused him to turn around to tell the others about future jobs they would do.

--

"There there now, don't be scared," Sam said as he petted the Zigzagoon he had on his lap, "It's normal to get stage fright the day before you're supposed to perform. At least I think it is. Is it, Claire?"

"How should I know?!" Claire responded as she paced back and forth.

"Are you nervous too?"

"Me?! Me!? What makes you think I'm nervous!? I'm perfectly fine! I'll go to that contest and show that wannabe punk who's better at raising pokemon!"

"You've never raised a pokemon."

"S-shut up! I've been studying how to raise one for a while now! I even went to the pokemon center to check on what moves Ziggy can use for the contest! T-turns out, she can use two cute moves and a tough one!"

"You stuttered a bit. I'm sure you're nervous."

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'M NERVOUS!! QUIT POINTING IT OUT!!" Claire took a deep breath and calmed herself a bit. "Why did you have to go and tell that girl that I was entering a contest?! I don't even know much about them!"

"That didn't stop you from training with Ziggy yesterday and the day before. Ziggy was a natural in the dancing practices, the clothes you put on her didn't look bad at all, and you actually thought of good strategies to use when demonstrating attacks! Even if you're a beginner, you and Ziggy are going to win!"

"Hearing that from the mouth of a five year old is not very assuring," Claire held her hand to her forehead, "Ziggy doesn't even know a lot of moves! The center said she only knew three. They classed her strength at level four! Do you know how low that is?! Starter pokemon are higher than that!"

Ziggy's ears then began to droop, "You're hurting her feelings, Claire!" Sam scolded, "Can't you be more… more…."

"Optimistic."

"Uptomistik! Can't you be more uptomistik? If you don't think you can win, then neither will she!"

"Yes, but… there are four rounds in the third part of a contest. I'll need more moves to pull it off, because I doubt the judges'll enjoy seeing the same move more than once."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Claire took another deep breath to calm herself and went to go answer it. "Hey, it's you!"

"Ah, you remember me!" said the brown haired teen who knocked. "I didn't expect you to remember me."

"Well, you're still wearing your uniform," Claire responded. "So why are you here? And how did you know where we lived?"

"Yes, well, I've got some news for you," she said. Claire noted the grim tone in her voice and hoped she would like what she was going to hear. "I wanted to support you in the pokemon contest, so I went to go buy some tickets. I asked for some for the cute contest, and while they were getting the tickets I took the time to see the roster. I searched as much as I could, but I couldn't find you anywhere on it!"

"Why would you search a rooster for Claire?" Sam interrupted.

"She said roster, Sam. It's a list. Wait, you didn't find me on the roster!?"

"I'm getting to that," the waitress responded. "I searched the other rosters as well, and found a picture of your Zigzagoon. I recognized her due to the ribbon. Anyways, I think you made a mistake when entering. You were signed for the cool contest!"

A cold wind blew on Claire when the waitress said that. "Did you say… cool contest?"

"Um… yes…."

"Are you sure?! Maybe you saw it wrong!"

"I'm sure. I checked as much as I could."

Claire put her head in her hands, "For the love of… how did I make such a stupid mistake…. Ziggy doesn't even know any cool moves!"

"I… figured that," the waitress responded. "So I pulled a few strings with my dad a few days ago, found out where you lived by asking a booth lady (with great difficulty) and got you something!" she then turned around and motioned for someone to come in.

In came a little pokemon she remembered seeing. It was the little Ralts with the bowtie she met when they were going to that dead guy's memorial. What was interesting about him, however, was the disk he was holding in his hands. "Ra ra!" it said triumphantly.

"Is… is this what I think it is?" Claire asked.

"Yes. This is a genuine TM. One that's sure to help you in a cool contest!"

Faster than the eye could see, Claire picked up the Ralts and held it in a tight hug, but careful enough not to break the TM. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!"

"Ra ra ralts!!" the Ralts yelled as he was being crushed in her arms.

"Oh, sorry," Claire said as she put him down.

"Ralts," he said. He then looked around the room and spotted Ziggy. He held up an arm and waved at her, "Ral!"

Ziggy, who was shivering in a ball in the corner, then got up and rushed to the Ralts, then pounced on it. "Zig, zigzagoon!" she exclaimed.

"It seems our pokemon know each other," the waitress observed.

"What a coincidence. So, back on subject, what move is this?"

"Why don't you just use that TM and find out?"

Claire looked at the TM for a while, anticipating what it was. "Sure! I'll use it as soon as I can! So, what's your name, miss?"

"Me? My name's Jennifer. Jennifer Hickory. What's yours?"

"My name's Claire. Claire Blueland. That's my little brother, Sam, and our pokemon, Ziggy. What's your pokemon's name?"

"His name's Jonathan." Jennifer then looked at her watch, "Oh, look at the time, my break's almost over. I've got to go back to the café. C'mon Jonny."

"Ralts," He said. He then turned to say bye to Ziggy after their short but meaningful conversation on how to overcome stage fright. It wasn't understood by anyone in the room other than them, so no one knew that it involved the Ralts's 'friend' who had to deak with a dunk tank and a jackhammer.

"Bye Jennifer!" Claire said, "Root for me during the contest!"

"I will!" Jennifer answered, "Maybe I'll consider entering Jonny in one of them!"

"Ra!?"

Claire then shut the door and looked at the TM. "What are you waiting for?" Sam asked, "Use it!"

"(Sigh) Alright." Claire went to Ziggy and picked her up. She then proceeded to use the TM. Somehow.

--

"Where is he? I thought we agreed to meet up back here…." Said a blue figure who was standing beside a tree."

A few seconds later, another blue figure walked into the meeting point, "Apologies, milady. I did not intend to keep thee waiting long."

"Finally! I've been waiting for an hour! So, did you find any info?"

"It seems the culprit hath been vanquished by a mere human child. A parcel felled from its talons as it was slain deep within the forest. Thou'th best search there first."

"I have a feeling I know what we'll find there. We may not need to search, but let's go check anyway."

"How does thou know whether it is intact or not?"

"I have a feeling it survived the fall. After all, I saw a fight between two pokemon that I'd best tell you about."


	35. Chapter 35: Late Again

I didn't notice while I was typing up this chapter, but Rotten Luck is over a year old now! 35 chapters in one year sounds like too little though. I've slacked off too much.

In other news, I'd like more reviews. I have a theory that I'm motivated by them, inspired by the fact that I haven't written much lately and there've been a lack of reviews. It could still be possible that I procrastinate, though.

Chapter 35: Late Again

With a yawn, I woke up on my bed. Of course, it wasn't really my bed, but an illusion or hallucination or something produced by my poke ball. That thought made me wonder how these poke balls worked.

As I lay in bed, I felt this nagging sense of urgency at the back of my mind. Putting it aside, I remained on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

Normally, I would see the outside world as if I was looking at it through a red, domed window. Right now, instead of seeing Jenny's apartment, all I saw was black, with a hint of red.

"That must not be good," I muttered to myself as I got out of bed. "It's probably best I go see what's wrong." I walked to the exit of my apartment, opened the door, and exited my poke ball. No sooner had I done that did I discovered what had happened.

Apparently, during the night while I was asleep, Jenny had turned in her sleep and knocked my poke ball off the nightstand. Later on in the night, while my poke ball was still on the floor, Jenny had rolled right off the bed. Can you guess where she landed?

Anyways, once I got out of my poke ball, I immediately felt the weight of my best friend on me. Back in the day when I wasn't one foot four inches tall and didn't weigh about fifteen pounds this wouldn't've been a problem for me. Of course, it's different now, and I had to struggle to drag myself from underneath her.

Once I was out, I had to sit down to breathe for a while. I turned to look at the clock and saw it was noon. Wow, we must've been up late, I thought. The day before, Jenny had to work later than usual since they were short on help over at the Pineco Café. Jenny had volunteered to help out, and since most of the customers had taken a liking to the little pokemon with the bowtie that delivered food, I got a new job.

I got up and attempted to wake up Jenny. All I had to do was push her head until she woke up. She was a little drowsy and was muttering things like "What am I doing on the floor" and "Thanks for waking me up, Jonny." She then got up and went to take a shower. As for me, I decided to go use the computer and look up some stuff.

--

When those Porygons were living here and upgraded our stuff, they did not mention that it would be temporary. It took a long time for the computer to get on the internet, then another long while to get to the right website. At least it got there, instead of freezing up on me.

I was interested on reading up on something I heard some trainers talking about at the café. During their conversation, the word 'level' kept popping up every now and then. It seemed that levels had to do something with evolving, the way the trainers were using the word. Levels were, unless the trainers were lying or didn't know a thing about them, an imaginary numerical system to measure a pokemon's strength. The higher the number, the stronger the pokemon.

It also had to do with the learning of moves, so I figured I could use that to see my friends' levels. First, I started with Ember. I knew that he didn't have his move, coincidentally also called ember, from birth and he had recently learned it. I looked up some stuff and found out that the move ember was learned at level seven. The next move he would learn, smokescreen, would be learned at level ten. This meant Ember was between levels seven and ten. Looking up a bit further, I found out Ember would evolve into a Charmeleon at level sixteen.

As I was reading up on some more stuff, my brain remembered something. When that Primeape had attacked us, I had done some stuff I wasn't able to do normally. Quickly, I typed in 'Ralts' into the search engine. Slowly, the computer opened up the page.

Several minutes later, I read up until I found the name of a move that was likely one of the ones I had used. Seriously, how could I mistake the name 'teleport' for something else? But there was something about the move that surprised me a bit. The fact that it was learned at level twelve was a surprise, and I had used it before. This meant I was over level twelve, and thus was actually a higher level than Ember!

He was still better at fighting than me, though.

I looked up a little more and found out that the next move I would learn at level seventeen was lucky chant. Oh, the irony.

I suddenly felt that nagging feeling at the back of my head. I looked at the clock and saw it was 12:18. I couldn't help but think that the reason for my panic was related to the time.

I shrugged the feeling off again and turned back to the computer. I didn't know what attacks Rocky knew or learned during his training with Nutty, but I did know that Ziggy hadn't learned any new moves other than those she knew from birth and the one from the TM Jenny gave Claire which had nothing to do with levels. The next move she would learn was tail whip at level five. That was labeled as a cute move, so it made me wonder what it would be like if used on a cool contest.

The last word in that paragraph made my nagging feeling go on full blast.

My neck turned to the clock so fast that I was thankful not to hear a snap. I saw that it was now 12:23. The contest was today, and it would begin at 1:00. Usually, I shrug off my bad luck, but for some weird reason when it comes to being late I panic and don't think straight sometimes. I mean, I was more worried about missing my date with Jenny than the fact that I was now a pokemon!

I turned off the computer and ran to the bathroom door. Using my little hand-paw appendages, I repeatedly slammed on the door to call Jenny. I heard the shower turn off and after a while Jenny opened the door. "What's wrong, Jonny?"

I just stood there and said nothing. You see, Jenny was in the middle of her shower while I frantically pounded on the door, so when she opened the door she was garbed in no more than a towel. Eventually, I snapped out of it and pointed at the clock. She looked at it and understood immediately. Feeling panic about being late, but not enough to be crazy about it, she quickly ran to her wardrobe to get her clothes.

And then the towel came off.

--

Once I woke up from a… wonderful dream I found myself in Jenny's arms as she ran towards the contest hall. I looked at her watch and saw that it was now 12:45. Jenny was beginning to get tired, so she slowed down to a jog. At first, I thought it would be easier to call a taxi, but looking at the street I saw that the street was full of traffic, and it would actually be faster to walk.

"Oh… (huff)… you're awake," she panted.

"Wow, you look tired," I remarked, "Shouldn't you slow down a bit?"

Guessing at what I had said, she responded, "Don't worry… (huff)… I can handle (pant) running to the (huff) contest hall."

"You'll probably pass out at this rate," I mentioned, "You don't often get exercise."

"Don't worry… (wheeze) I can (pant) handle it," she lied. She was holding me to her chest, so I knew how fast her heart was beating.

Deciding that it would be best to be a little late rather than have my best friend have a heart attack, I schemed of a way so that she didn't have to run. _Maybe if I teleport us there_, I thought. _Of course, I don't know how to do that_, I thought immediately after.

I decided to look back on the day the Primeape attacked in which I had teleported. _Let's see… first, I saw Jenny in danger. Second, I wanted to save her. Lastly, I teleported. Wow, that was a lot of help. Maybe if I play dead she'll stop_. So I relaxed my entire body and realized while I fell to the sidewalk that Jenny was holding me lightly and I was doing most of the holding. At least I got her to stop.

"Oh my god! Are you alright?!" she asked as she scooped me off the ground.

"Don't hurt, it doesn't worry," I answered. I waved my hand in an it's-not-a-big-deal manner to relay the message to her.

"Jonny, I was running as fast as I could when you fell. I know that must've hurt."

"Yes, and if you don't want it to happen again I suggest you walk slower," I said, having found the best way I could find to make her slow down.

"Don't worry, I won't run that fast while I'm holding you. What does it matter if we're a little late?"

I gave a sigh of relief and answered, "Great! Now go ahead and walk at your own pace." To say that, I had to ignore the nagging at the back of my mind screaming, _RUN!! RUN AS IF YOU ARE BEING CHASED BY AN URSARING WITH A MACHETE!!_

--

I managed to keep myself from panicking for the rest of the trip by holding on as tight as I could to Jenny's arm and gritting my teeth. Jenny assured me we would arrive at the contest hall on time, but she kept looking at her watch, which in turn made me hold on tighter.

"You're really worried we'll miss this, aren't you?" Jenny asked.

"I can't help it! Being late bothers me for some reason!" I answered.

"Heheh, you really remind me of him, you know." As soon as she said that sentence, all my worries about being late were suddenly gone. They were instantly replaced by feelings of curiosity. With the sudden change in my emotions, I twisted my neck to look up at Jenny. There was a feeling of nostalgia, as well as a little sadness, surging throughout my horns. Jenny didn't have any pink horns on her head, but I have always suspected a little that she could read people's emotions (except for people who had crushes on her. She always had been oblivious to those feelings). "Oh, you're curious, aren't you? I don't think I ever told you about Jonny. Well the old Jonny, not you."

I found it strange that I asked the following question, but before I could think of what to say I asked, "Who was he?"

Again, Jenny guessed correctly what I had asked. Her answer was somewhat unexpected to me. I should've expected it, since we did schedule a date, but thinking about that situation like that was like trying to remember something on the tip of your tongue. Nonetheless, the answer did make me feel very happy inside. "He was my boyfriend," she answered.

I didn't notice it yet, but Jenny had come to a complete stop. "He would've reacted much as you have," she continued. "I never did learn why he always panicked when he was late. Then again, neither did he."

"You miss him, don't you?" I asked.

"I miss him very much," she answered. "You and he share a lot of habits. Sometimes I think you're the same person."

"Now that's silly," I said, "Who ever heard of a human being dying, and then being reborn as a pokemon? Not something that normally happens. It's true, though."

"Heh, you're right, that is silly," she answered to what she assumed I said, which again was not entirely incorrect. "This conversation lasted a little longer than I expected."

"You're right," I said. "All you did was comment on how I was tense because it is 12:54 and the contest is GOING TO START SOON WHAT THE HELL ARE WE DOING WAITING HERE!?

Jenny picked up on this immediately, "When did I stop walking? Well, we shouldn't worry much. The contest hall is just around the corner, and I feel better now. I'll run the rest of the way."

"Fine by me," I said, relieved that we wouldn't be late. Jenny was not as tired anymore and the contest hall was only a small jog away. _What could go wrong?_ I asked myself.

"Oh no, I left my ticket back at the apartment," Reality in the form of Jenny's voice answered.


End file.
